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.
Kyivpastrans has signed a contract with Anadolu Isuzu Otomotiv Sanayii Ve Ticaret A.Ş. (Turkey) for the supply of 12-meter fully low-floor buses for EUR 18.595 million with financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB).
This information is contained in the notification of the award of the contract in the framework of the tender published in the Official Journal of the EU, which is cited by AllTransUA.
The tender for the supply of buses to Kyiv was announced back in March 2021, and the proposals were opened in November of the same year after several postponements, but the evaluation of the proposals was suspended due to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.
The first batch of buses, according to the tender announcement, is to be delivered within 8 months of receiving the advance payment, and the entire contract is designed for 22 months.
According to AllTransUA, the second bidder was also the Turkish company Otokar.
The number of buses is not specified in the announcement, but according to media reports, it can be up to 85 buses.
As reported, earlier Ukrainian bus manufacturers noted that they either could not participate in EIB tenders due to the conditions or preferred foreign participants.
In 2020, Kyiv purchased 200 Belarusian MAZ buses on lease.
In January-November 2023, Express Insurance (Kyiv) collected insurance premiums worth UAH 652 million, which is 59.8% more than in the same period a year earlier, according to the company’s website.
The number of concluded contracts increased by 91.5% compared to January-November 2022 and by 26.2% compared to the same period in 2021, before the full-scale invasion.
Payments for hull insurance for 11 months amounted to UAH 563 million, which is 54.5% more compared to January-November 2022, for VHI – UAH 9.7 million (+42.8%), for other types of insurance – UAH 7 million (+32.5%).
The company reports that in November 2023, it attracted UAH 73.5 million in payments, which is almost 40% more than in November last year.
As reported, for 11 months of 2023, the company paid insurance claims in the amount of UAH 297.9 million, which is 43.9% more than in the same period a year earlier. Motor hull insurance payments amounted to UAH 258.7 million, which is 40.1% more than in the first 11 months of 2023, MTPL – UAH 28.7 million (+53.6%), VHI – UAH 6.1 million (+169%).
Payments on other types of insurance amounted to UAH 4.4 million (+124%).
Express Insurance ALC was founded in 2008 with the participation of UkrAVTO Corporation. Since April 2012, it has been an associate member of the Motor Transport Insurance Bureau of Ukraine.
In January-September 2022, insurance companies – members of the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine (MTIBU) concluded 5.228 million contracts of compulsory civil liability insurance of motor vehicles owners (CMTPL), which is 22.9% less than during the same period of 2021.
According to data released on the website of MTSBU, 3.184 million of the total number of contracts were concluded electronically – 3.86% less than for the same period last year.
During nine months of 2022 the Bureau members reduced the amount of insurance payments on CMTPL policy by 5,8% compared to the same period of 2021 – up to UAH 4,962 billion, including UAH 3,346 billion (+17%) on electronic contracts.
The total of accrued insurance reimbursements under domestic insurance contracts in January-September reduced by 22,77% – up to UAH 2,015 bn. Including UAH 414,562 mln. was paid out using the “Europrotocol (-14,54%).
The Bureau has also reduced the number of settled claims for insurance compensation by 34.2% – to 82.795 thsd. – up to 32,583 thousand (-28,23%).
MLIBU is the only union of insurers providing compulsory insurance of civil liability of ground transport owners for damages, caused to third parties. There are 42 insurance companies that are members of the bureau.
Ukraine is surprised and disappointed with Hungary’s decision to sign a new long-term contract with Russia’s Gazprom in Budapest on September 27, 2021, regarding gas supply to Hungary bypassing Ukraine, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“We view this as nothing but a political, economically unfounded decision, which has been made to the benefit of the Kremlin and to the detriment of national interests of Ukraine and Ukrainian-Hungarian relations, in violation of the principles of the Treaty of Neighborliness and Cooperation between Ukraine and the Hungarian Republic dated December 6, 1991,” the statement said.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has initiated a delay of the next meeting of the Joint Ukrainian-Hungarian Intergovernmental Economic Cooperation co-chaired by the two foreign ministers, which was planned for September 29-30.
“Earlier today, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry initiated a delay of the Commission meeting, considering that the Hungarian-Russian gas agreement will have a substantial influence on the energy security of Ukraine and Europe, and will create new circumstances that require a comprehensive analysis of risks and threats and coordinated efforts of countries of the region in order to minimize its negative implications,” the statement said.
The Ukrainian side will also apply to the European Commission to provide an assessment of the conformity of the new Hungarian-Russian gas agreement with European energy legislation.
By the end of 2021, the mobile network operator Kyivstar plans to increase the base of contract clients by 500,000, President of Kyivstar Alexander Komarov told reporters on Wednesday.
At the end of 2020, the operator’s total client base was about 25.9 million mobile subscribers. At present, according to the operator, almost 90% of the Kyivstar network are prepaid mobile subscribers and the company has more than 10% are contract subscribers.
“The [number of] contract [subscribers] should grow by 500,000 new clients this year. This is a definite ambition of Kyivstar. We are generally supporters of identifying our client base and transferring it to more stable forms of connection,” Komarov said.
According to him, despite the fact that, in general, Kyivstar’s client base is stable (no more than 1% decrease year-on-year), in 2020 the prepaid subscriber base decreased 4%, which were redistributed into two segments: FMC (clients using fixed-line and mobile communication) and the contract subscribers.
“Our enemy of the contract is a very low average bill. The main means of transferring a client to a contract is a combination of a phone and payment for communication services. An average smartphone in Ukraine costs UAH 5,000-6,000, and communication services for 12 months – about UAH 1,000. Accordingly, we have very little of this added value to transfer a client to a contract. And in the gray market, the difference in price for a phone between a legal store and an online seller can reach 10-15%,” the president of Kyivstar said.
Kyivstar is a market-leading telecoms operator in Ukraine. It provides communication and data services based on a wide range of mobile and fixed-line technologies, including 3G. By the end of 2020, its services were used by about 25.9 million mobile subscribers and about 1.1 million fixed Internet customers.
The shareholder of Kyivstar is the international group VEON (earlier – VimpelCom Ltd.). The group’s shares are listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange (New York).
