The European Investment Bank (EIB) has approved the provision of a credit line of EUR 450 million to finance the construction of Lviv Northern bypass and the rehabilitation of sections of M-05 highway in Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv and Odesa regions in Ukraine.
According to the report of the bank, its Board of Directors approved the project on October 15, 2019.
The EIB said that the investments will improve the quality of the extended TEN-T network (Trans-European Transport Network) by creating safer road conditions and reducing environmental pollution. In addition, the Lviv Northern bypass will shorten travel time and divert traffic from the city of Lviv.
The bank said that the EIB will require the Promoter to ensure that any procurement procedures are done in accordance with the Bank’s Guide to Procurement and the relevant applicable EU public procurement rules.
According to the report, the total cost of the framework project is around EUR 1.05 billion. Other sources of financing are not disclosed.
As reported, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and JSC Ukrzaliznytsia intended on October 21, 2019 to announce tender procurement of materials for modernization of TEN-T tracks for $100 million raised by the company from the bank.
The group of companies Ristone Holdings has invested EUR 2 million in construction of a second phase of the oilseed crushing complex of Ristone Oil LLC (Dnipropetrovsk region), the group has reported on its Facebook page.
According to the report, the company concluded a contract with Germany’s Convex International GmbH for the supply of drying and cleaning equipment from Petkus (Germany), transport equipment from Riela (Germany), four main and two auxiliary grain silos with a capacity of 20,000 cubic meters from Symaga firm (Spain).
“This will allow us to keep the quality at the highest level and increase the volume of the daily processing rate by more than two times, while minimizing emissions of pollutants,” the group said.
The main activity of the complex is the deep processing of oilseeds. Currently, Ristone Oil produces sunflower oil, granulated meal, expanded cake, and fuel pellets from production waste.
In the future, it is envisaged the possibility of placing a line of hydration and drying of phosphatides in the oil press workshop with a warehouse for their storage and subsequent loading to vehicles.
The prices for construction and assembly work in Ukraine in August 2019 decreased by 0.9% compared with July, while the increase in prices in July 2019 compared with June 2019 was 0.4%.
According to the State Statistics Service, these figures are given without taking into account the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea and Sevastopol and part of temporarily occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
According to the service, the rise in prices for construction and assembly work in August 2019 from August 2018 was 5.3%.
According to the report, in general the growth in prices for construction and assembly work in January-August 2019 compared with January-August 2019 amounted to 8.3%.
The decline in construction prices in August 2019 compared with June 2019 was recorded in all areas of construction.
The prices for construction and assembly work grew by 23% in 2018, and growth in 2017 was 13.4%, 9.2% in 2016 and 27.1% in 2015 compared with the previous year.
By 2021, the first Ukrainian innovation park, UNIT.City (a project of UFuture), will be built at 20%, and the amount of investment in it will reach 245 million euros.
“UNIT.City must integrate into the international innovation ecosystem. To do this, we are ready to actively invest in the project, attract global technological leaders, and interact with global financial institutions. The park has reached a new level and is an understandable partner for key industry players,” Vasyl Khmelnytsky, Founder of UFuture, said.
Today, about EUR50 million have been invested in the innovation park and 36 thousand square meters of infrastructure have been built. Three campuses, an IT-school for gifted youth, UNIT Factory, coworking Chasopys.UNIT, a free sports complex and several cafes have been opened. By the end of this year, EUR70 million will be invested in the construction of two business campuses and the first phase of UNIT.Home with a total area of 60 thousand square meters. The construction of five new business campuses, the second phase of UNIT.Home, and a school (with a total area of 110 thousand square meters) is planned to start next year with EUR125 million of investments. Thus, a fifth part of the territory of the innovation park will be built.
According to UNIT.City’s CEO Dominique Piotet, in 2020, comfortable conditions for 150 resident companies as well as for education of more than 1,200 students will be created in the innovation park. Partnership with two of the world’s leading universities is planned. Five venture capital funds, eight laboratories, and ten accelerators are expected to operate in UNIT.City next year. The top manager hopes that international events such as Web Summit, IT Arena, CES, and Davos will be held at UNIT.City in 2020.
“My goal is to ensure that in 2025, when 90% of UNIT.City is built, the world appreciates Ukraine no longer for outsourcing, but for the high quality of innovations, startups. I would like the world to perceive our ecosystem as a place where ideas grow into world-famous companies. Where billion-dollar unicorn startups appear. I would like the next Tesla or iPhone to be born here in UNIT.City,” Dominique Piotet said.
The symbol of the “New Era” of the innovation park’s development is the opening of the unique “Beacon” art object at UNIT.City square. With the onset of darkness, light gradually rises along the two sides of a 60-meter factory pipe lighting a bright beam at the top. The diameter of its base is 3.5 m, and the length can reach 100 meters.
Inside the art object, a dome screen and a projection system were installed by a Ukrainian company, developer of visual solutions and technologies for planetariums and museums, Front Pictures. The image on the screen is being created by four projectors under the control of the Screenberry media server. The planetarium can be controlled remotely through the application on the tablet. “Beacon” was designed by a British artist, Sebastian Kite. The concept of the project was implemented by UDP development company.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
UFuture is a holding company of Ukrainian entrepreneur Vasyl Khmelnytsky that integrates his business and impact-investment projects. The Company has a diversified portfolio of assets in real estate, industry, infrastructure, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, and IT. As of today, UFuture’s assets are estimated at $550 million with total capitalization of the businesses invested in exceeding $1 billion.
UNIT.City is Ukraine’s first innovation park. It is the location where matchless infrastructure and all-inclusive ecosystem enable high technology, innovative and creative businesses to happen and flourish. The goal is to become the center of innovations and a one-point entry into Ukraine for investors, partners and new technology from all over the world. The mission of UNIT.City is to create a unique innovation platform where advanced companies, start-ups and mavens get an opportunity to cross paths and work together ramping up their growth.
UFuture and UDP companies of businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky in partnership with KAN Development (both based in Kyiv) plan to begin the construction of 70,000 square meters of new offices and the second phase of the UNIT.Home residential complex in the Kyiv innovative park UNIT.City in 2020.
“Currently, two office buildings are being built in UNIT.City, which will be brought to the market in the first quarter of 2020 … Next year we plan to begin the construction of 70,000 square meters of business campuses and the second phase of housing,” CEO of Unit.Holdings Kostiantyn Yevtushenko said at a presentation on launching home sales in the UNIT.Home project in Kyiv.
According to him, currently 36,000 square meters of offices have been built as part of the UNIT.City project (three business campuses). As of 2019, another 20,000 square meters of offices and 40,000 square meters of housing are under construction.
According to Ihor Nikonov, the founder of KAN Development, the UNIT.Home project is being implemented in accordance with the requirements of the international system of the green standard BREEAM (the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method). Currently, the construction of the first stage of housing with an area of 40,300 square meters is being carried out. It includes sections of houses for 580 apartments. The number of floors ranges from six to 20. The project participants plan to complete the construction of the first stage in 2022.
Nikonov said the residential part of the UNIT.City project will occupy about 20% of all areas of the innovation town. In particular, in the end, the total housing area will be 174,900 square meters, while the area of the entire park is about 850,000 square meters.
UDP and KAN Development are the co-investors and developers of the UNIT.Home project. The project management company is Unit.Holdings.
UFuture is a holding company of Ukrainian businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky, which combines his business and social projects. It has a diversified portfolio of assets in real estate, infrastructure, industry, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, and IT.
Ukrenergo National Energy Company will finish construction of the Kreminska substation with a power capacity of 500/220 kV (Kreminna town in Luhansk region) by the end of May 2020, Ukrenergo operations director Volodymyr Kudrytsky said at a press conference in Kyiv.
“Kyiv Energy Construction Company in Ivano-Frankivsk, one of the biggest companies Ukrenergo is working with, won the bids in 2017. At present moment, it is building the facility. May 2020 is an expected date of completion of the building works,” he said.
Kudrytsky reminded that the term for completion of the works was scheduled for December 2018. However, these terms have been shifted over the Cabinet of Ministers’ delay to approve the design documentation and settling the issues with land acquisition. Kyiv Energy Construction Company in order not to waste time started to buy necessary equipment and machinery before the government approved the documentation.
According to company’s operation director, the cost of construction now totals UAH 1.3 billion, while the Cabinet of Ministers initially appraised it at UAH 1.7 billion.
He also reported that Ukrenergo was working over the project on increase of the capacities of Luhansk thermal power plant (TPP).
“To provide distribution of Luhansk TPP in full, at a moment we initiated building of another facility, it is on the stage of design. This is a 220 kV transmission line from Luhansk TPP to Yuvileina power substation,” he said.
As reported, construction of Kreminska substation launched two years ago.
The Kreminska substation will make it possible to synchronize the electricity supply system in the northern Donbas with Ukraine’s Integrated Power System (IPS) and provide a stable link to that system.
Consumers in the northern part of the Luhansk region are only supplied by coal-fired Luhanska TPP. Previously, the fuel was delivered to the station by rail through Russia, but today deliveries have ceased completely being blocked by the Russian Federation.
Now the station runs on gas, which is much more expensive than coal. This is economically disadvantageous. In addition, the station is located in close proximity to the war zone, and its continued operation is constantly under threat. These factors pose significant risks of complete shutdown of the Luhanska TPP. At the same time, due to damage to power grids as a result of hostilities, only two 110 kV transmission lines now connect the Luhanska power unit with the power grid of Ukraine. Their capacity, with no generation at the Luhansk TPP, is only 110MW. Meanwhile, the power unit’s consumption is from 140 MW at night to 220MW in the evening peak. Thus, if the operation of the Luhansk TPP stops in any reasons, the region won’t be provided with electricity as strongly as required.
