Turkish defense company Baykar has begun construction of a plant near Kyiv that will employ about 500 people and produce TB2 or TB3 drone models, the company’s CEO told Reuters on Tuesday.
The Turkish-made Bayraktar drones gained widespread popularity worldwide after the Ukrainian military began using them to counter Russian forces, destroying armored vehicles and artillery systems.
Baykar said it has signed export agreements for its TB2 drone with 30 countries. Among them are Ukraine, Ethiopia, Libya and Azerbaijan since 2018, according to the SIPRI think tank.
“Our plant is under construction… we need about 12 months to finish the construction, and then we will move on to the internal machinery, equipment and organizational structure,” Baykar CEO Haluk Bayraktar said on the sidelines of the Riyadh World Defense Exhibition.
“The plant in Ukraine is large, we plan to employ about 500 people,” he said. Bayraktar noted that the production capacity will be about 120 units per year, but said it is not yet clear whether production at the Ukrainian plant will focus on the TB2 or TB3 drone model.
Asked if security issues related to the ongoing conflict would be a concern for the plant, he said that plans are “fully progressing” and “nothing” can stop them.
As reported earlier, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and Turkish company Baykar Makina signed an agreement to build a service center for the repair and maintenance of unmanned aerial vehicles in Ukraine.
PJSC Ukrnafta is starting construction of a new directional well in the northeast of the country with a design depth of 3314 m and a projected initial oil production rate of 26.5 tons per day.
According to the company’s CEO Sergiy Koretsky on Facebook, the drilling is planned to explore the productive horizon of the Lower Carboniferous Visean deposits and its further exploitation.
The well will be drilled by Ukrnafta Drilling, the company’s division, using its own ZJ-40 drilling rig with a 225-ton capacity.
“This is the first of 30 wells that Ukrnafta plans to start drilling with its own drilling equipment in 2024. I am grateful to the team – geologists, drillers, engineers – who are working to ensure that the Ukrainian oil industry develops and brings the country a valuable resource,” Koretskyi said.
As reported, in 2023, Ukrnafta increased oil and condensate production by 3% (by 39.9 thousand tons) compared to 2022 – up to 1 million 409.9 thousand tons, gas production by 5.8% (by 60.4 million cubic meters), up to 1 billion 97.4 million cubic meters.
“Ukrnafta’s strategic goal is to double its oil and natural gas production to 3 million tons and 2 billion cubic meters by 2027, respectively.
“Ukrnafta is Ukraine’s largest oil producer and operator of a national network of 537 filling stations, of which 456 are in operation.
Ukrnafta’s largest shareholder is Naftogaz of Ukraine with a 50%+1 share. On November 5, 2022, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine decided to transfer the corporate rights of the company owned by private owners, which is now managed by the Ministry of Defense, to the state.
The construction project management outsourcing is a new service in Rauta offer, but the company already has several projects in its portfolio where it performs turnkey construction works.
The new 7-storey business center has an area of about 3.000 sq.m and modern infrastructure with a comfortable workspace for IT entrepreneurs.
Performance of Rauta construction project management outsourcing includes the following stages:
More information about the construction project management outsourcing
The Cabinet of Ministers has allocated an additional UAH 2.5 billion for the construction of engineering and fortification facilities, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal said.
“The key task for us this year is to strengthen our defense capabilities. In this context, today there are two important decisions. We allocate additional almost 2.5 billion hryvnias from the reserve fund for the construction of engineering and fortification facilities,” Shmygal said at a government meeting on Friday.
According to him, UAH 1.4 billion of these funds will be used for fortification of defense lines, and another UAH 1.1 billion for the construction of non-intrusion strips. – for the construction of non-explosive barrier strips.
In addition, the government has allocated another UAH 120m from the reserve fund for the State Border Guard Service to strengthen the defense capability and engineering and technical arrangement of the border.
In 2023, Epicenter Agro Holding, a member of the Epicenter K group of companies, began construction of a plant for the production of urea-ammonia mixture (UAN) and liquid complex fertilizers (LCF) in Vinnytsia region, according to the official website of the agricultural holding.
According to the report, the fertilizers are to be used during the 2024 sowing campaign.
“We have very ambitious goals for 2024. Changing the sowing structure, further testing of the No-till system, our own fertilizer production, and a number of other projects are just a small part of the challenges we have set for ourselves. In addition, we are confidently moving towards the introduction of processing of our products. This means that we firmly believe in ourselves as a team of professionals, our company Epicenter Agro, and the peaceful future of Ukraine,” said Svitlana Nikitiuk, Head of the Central Office of the Agricultural Department of Epicenter Agro.
Epicenter K LLC was established in 2003 and opened its first hypermarket in Kyiv in December of the same year. It has a network of shopping centers of the same name in Ukraine. It has also been developing its agricultural business since 2016. It cultivates more than 160 thousand hectares in Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky, Ternopil, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy and Kyiv regions. The group includes 20 livestock farms and 15 elevator complexes with a total storage capacity of 1.5 million tons.
According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, the shareholders of Epicenter K LLC are Oleksandr Gerega (51.3%), Galyna Gerega (47.97%) and Tetiana Surzhyk (0.73%).
The cost of construction in 2023 rose to 20%, which will affect price increases in 2024, Susanna Karakhanyan, Head of Sales at Greenville Kyiv, told Interfax-Ukraine.
“The cost of construction has increased by about 15-20% everywhere, and our projects are no exception. This will affect the cost per square meter: prices will rise over the next year, but not critically, because developers are trying to maintain demand,” she said.
Currently, in the Greenville residential complex in Pechersk, the cost per square meter in a finished building averages 2.4 thousand USD, and in a building under construction – 2 thousand USD. In Greenville Park, the average price per square meter under construction is 1.9 thousand USD.
According to Karakhanyan, in 2023, sales, demand, construction, logistics and operational and production processes adapted to the conditions of martial law. In the second half of the year, demand increased significantly: people began to return to Ukraine.
“In the Greenville residential complex in Pechersk, we commissioned two new sections this fall, and next year we plan to start another one. At Greenville Park, we have almost completed all monolithic works this year – the dynamics of construction is high, despite all the obstacles of wartime,” she said.
According to the expert, the market conditions are now dictated by the buyer, and developers are adjusting to investors. The term for concluding a deal has increased, now this process takes a month or more, buyers are looking for the most favorable conditions for themselves. Also, investors are not ready to invest in projects at the early stages of construction, assessing the risks. Priority is given to apartments in buildings in the final stages or completed. While buyers used to consider buying a home as a good investment to save money or make a profit, now they buy apartments primarily for themselves and their families.
In general, when choosing a home, buyers’ attention is focused on three aspects: safety, functionality, and rational planning.
“They opt for projects with underground parking (which serves as a shelter), far from military-industrial facilities. Of course, the investor also pays attention to the constructive advantages of the complex and the quality of building materials,” Karakhanyan said.
According to the Unified State Electronic System in the Construction Sector, the certificate of acceptance for two sections of the Greenville residential complex in Pechersk was issued on September 29, 2023. They have a total of 250 apartments. The building has 23 floors plus 4 underground floors, its total area is 34.85 thousand square meters, residential – 21.083 thousand square meters. It is noted that the estimated cost of the object put into operation is UAH 354 million 968.37 thousand.
According to the LUN new buildings portal, the project developer, Greenville, has been operating since 2007, during which time 26 residential buildings have been commissioned, six are under construction.
