Representatives of the Government of Serbia, the City of Belgrade and PowerChina today signed an agreement for the construction of the first phase of the Belgrade Metro Line 1 worth EUR 720 million.
The agreement for Lot 2 of the first phase of Line 1 of the Belgrade Metro covers the design and execution of works, including preparatory activities and the procurement of TBM machines for tunneling.
The preparatory and construction work is expected to last 45 months plus two years.
The document was signed in the Serbian government building by Minister of Public Investment Darko Glisic, Acting Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure; Acting Deputy Head of the Belgrade City Administration – Secretary of the Public Transport Secretariat Radovan Kremić; Director of the Belgrade Metro and Train Company Andrej Mladenović, together with a representative of the Chinese company Power China Han Jiping.
As noted, the new agreement makes it possible to allocate a separate Lot 2, which will be financed from the Serbian budget and will enter into force immediately, which will facilitate the faster implementation of the construction of the first phase of Line 1 of the Belgrade Metro.
Prices for construction and installation works in Ukraine in October 2024 increased by 5.1% compared to October 2023, the State Statistics Service (Ukrstat) reported.
According to the statistics agency, in October 2024 compared to October 2023, prices increased in all segments of construction: in residential construction, the growth was 7%, in non-residential construction – 5%, in engineering – 4.5%. At the same time, compared to September of this year, prices increased only in residential construction – by 0.1%, while in non-residential construction they decreased by 0.1% and in engineering construction – by 0.4%.
In October-2024 to December-2023, prices for construction and installation works increased by 5.8%, while in the first ten months of 2024, prices for construction works increased by 8.2% compared to the same period a year earlier.
As reported, in 2023, prices for construction and installation works increased by 15.8% compared to 2022.
The State Statistics Service indicated that the figures are given without taking into account the temporarily occupied territories and part of the territories where hostilities are (were) taking place.
On Wednesday, the Board of Directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) approved a loan of up to EUR80 million to Ukrnafta under state guarantees for the construction of about 100 MW of small gas-fired distributed power plants and cogeneration facilities. According to the bank’s website, the loan will help solve the problem of electricity shortages and ensure uninterrupted power supply to households and businesses.
The total cost of the project will be EUR103.8 million, and it will also be financed by a grant of up to EUR22 million expected to be provided by the Netherlands, the United States and other donors through the EBRD’s Special Crisis Response Fund, as well as a technical support grant of EUR1.8 million from other donors.
“Ukrnafta is Ukraine’s largest oil producer and operator of the national network of filling stations. In March 2024, the company took over the management of Glusco’s assets and operates 547 filling stations – 462 owned and 85 managed.
The company is implementing a comprehensive program to restore operations and update the format of its filling stations. Since February 2023, the company has been issuing its own fuel coupons and NAFTAKarta cards, which are sold to legal entities and individuals through Ukrnafta-Postach LLC.
“Ukrnafta holds 92 special permits for commercial development of fields. It has 1832 oil and 154 gas production wells on its balance sheet.
Ukrnafta’s largest shareholder is Naftogaz of Ukraine with a 50%+1 share. In November 2022, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine decided to transfer to the state a share of corporate rights of the company owned by private owners, which is now managed by the Ministry of Defense.
Moloko Vitchyzny LLC (Sumy region) is completing the construction of a dairy complex for 3,000 heads of cattle in Dubno district, Rivne region, the head of Rivne Regional State Administration Oleksandr Koval said on Facebook.
“For us, the new farm means not only additional budget revenues, but also 85 jobs. We are grateful to the business that, despite the war, is implementing such ambitious projects in Rivne region,” he emphasized.
Moloko Vitchyzny LLC promises to complete the construction of the dairy complex in the near future. In the summer of 2025, they intend to ship the first milk. The planned productivity of the herd is 39 thousand tons of milk per year. Moloko Vitchyzny LLC was registered in 2018 in Sumy region. The company included three dairy farms equipped with modern equipment. The total herd size is 7800 cattle, including 3100 heads of dairy Holstein cows.
According to the Opendatabot resource, the company’s revenue in 2024 amounted to UAH 470.12 million, net profit – UAH 102.9 million, debt – UAH 81.25 million, and assets were estimated at UAH 743.52 million. The farms employed 177 people. The authorized capital was UAH 52.2 million.
The beneficiaries of Moloko Vitchyzny LLC are Volodymyr Zayets (47.25%), Serhiy Zayets (3.32%), Serhiy Chyzhyk (42.44%) and Swiss citizens Wolf Philipp and Wolf Müller von Blumkencron Christian, who own 3.5% of the shares each.
Source: https://interfax.com.ua/
On December 10, 2024, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group plans to consider a EUR55 million loan to Concern Galnaftogaz to finance the construction of a 147 MW wind farm in Volyn region and technical support.
According to the IFC website, the total cost of the project is estimated at EUR 235 million. The 16-year loan will be granted to Wind Power G.I. Volyn LLC and Wind Power G.I. Volyn 3 LLC.
As reported earlier, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) plans to approve a EUR62 million long-term loan to the above-mentioned LLC on 4 December 2024 for the construction of a 147 MW wind farm in Volyn region.
The wind farm is expected to produce about 380 GWh (380 million kWh) of renewable electricity with zero carbon emissions annually.
In February 2024, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) allowed GNG Retail Limited (Cyprus) to acquire more than 50% of the authorized capital of Wind Power G&I Volyn LLC and Wind Power G&I Volyn 3 LLC.
According to public registers, GNG Retail Limited owns 89.5% of the two LLCs, and JSC ZNVKIF Rimini (in which Vitaliy Antonov owns 83.19%) owns 10.5%.
OKKO CEO Vasyl Danyliak announced the start of work on the construction of a wind farm in Volyn region in the fall of 2024. He explained the group’s plans to work in the renewable energy sector by the need to diversify its business, as the fuel market no longer foresees growth.
“Galnaftogaz operates one of the largest networks of OKKO filling stations, which includes more than 400 complexes with a network of catering facilities. The group also includes other businesses.
Vitaly Antonov’s GNG Retail Limited owns 90.25% of Concern Galnaftogaz shares. In October 2024, Avalia Investments Limited (Cyprus) of the founder and chairman of Concorde Capital, Igor Mazepa, became the owner of another 7.35% of the shares.
Industrial park (IP) “Belaya Tserkva” intends to start construction of two more factories in 2025, said Alexander Protsyuk, business development director of the industrial park.
“We now have five operating plants, three more are under construction and next year we will lay two more plants. That is, it will be more than 1 thousand jobs for Bila Tserkva, which is a significant achievement for a city of 250 thousand residents,” he said during the Ukrainian Automotive and Mobility Forum 2024 in Lviv.
Protsyuk recalled that since the beginning of the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation IP “Bila Tserkva” managed to attract three foreign investors – one of the world’s largest manufacturers of everyday goods company Uniliver, manufacturer of spare parts for electric vehicles InTiCa Systems, and a supplier of thin slab structures Finnish Peikko Group (whose plant is under construction – IF-U).
“InTiCa was the first company in Ukraine to obtain war risk insurance, and I will say that the quality of Ukrainian products is an order of magnitude higher than in its Czech division, where Ukrainians work, and in its Mexican division, which works for the American market. And now InTiCa is at a crossroads – they would very much like to move the plant from the Czech Republic to Ukraine, but they are worried about the Vienna risks. But I think we will expand their plant at our location,” Protsyuk said.
He also added that the work with Uniliver and Peikko Group lasted more than a year. “For these three successful cases we have four unsuccessful ones – these are large multinational companies, which for various reasons refused to enter or expand business in Ukraine,” – said the director of business development of IP ”Bila Tserkva.
Regarding the attractiveness of the park for investors, Protsyuk emphasized that for production cases location is certainly important (for example, in border areas), but equally important is access to high-quality but expensive labor and quick access to communications.
“These are two key things that attract investors – we don’t have to spend time on connecting to the networks, capacities are coordinated, and we have received funding from the government under the FE program. We have an unsuccessful history with USAID, but that was a good experience as well. We use all possible types of financing, including bank and grant financing,” Protsyuk said.
According to him today in the IP “Belaya Tserkva” of 36 hectares free 12 hectares, and in “Belaya Tserkva 2” – 24 hectares, and there is a built production facility of 2 thousand square meters, with connected communications in the neighborhood of Peikko and Uniliver.
“And we advise foreign investors who want to reduce the cost of production to keep up with global competition to think not only about investing in border cities like Lviv, for example, but also to shift a bit to the east, because the risks are not much bigger, but the advantages – good wages, freer access to communications, electricity – can offset these risks,” emphasizes Protsyuk.
“And we hope that next year we will have two more successful examples,” he summarized.
IP “Belaya Tserkva” and “Belaya Tserkva 2” – projects of the holding company UFuture of entrepreneur Vasily Khmelnitsky, were included in the Register of industrial parks in 2018.
On the developed territory of IP “Bila Tserkva” 41 square meters of production and warehouse premises were built and 14 residents were attracted, among which, in addition to Unilever, InTiCa Systems, Peikko and Pripravka relocated from Kharkiv since 2022, there is also a logistics depot of “Novaya Poshta”, a grain storage complex “Volytsya Agro”, a factory of electrical fittings Plank Electrotechnic, a manufacturer of high-rise equipment for construction work Virastar.
