In 2024, the State Agency for the Reconstruction and Development of Infrastructure of Ukraine will continue its transformation and plans to create a centralized procurement organization (CPO), the agency said in a statement presenting its 2023 results and plans for 2024 to international partners.
“The goal is to increase the Agency’s efficiency, transparency and accountability. The creation of the CPO will increase expertise in public and international procurement, introduce expert review of project documentation, ensure centralized price monitoring and competitive salaries,” said Mustafa Nayyem, the Agency’s head.
The event was organized with the support of the USAID/UKaid project “Support to the Reform of State-Owned Enterprises in Ukraine”. SOERA project with the support of the American and British peoples through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department for International, Commonwealth and Development (UKaid). The event was attended by U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, representatives of foreign embassies, international financial organizations and international companies.
Presenting the results of the work for 2023, Nayyem emphasized that the Recovery Agency is a sustainable and strong institution capable of implementing projects of various scales in the areas of social and housing construction, energy security, road infrastructure development, export, military and humanitarian logistics.
According to him, one of the largest projects of the Recovery Agency in 2023 was the protection of energy facilities at three levels, with assistance from partners from the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan.
The first level – big bags and gabions – protected 103 facilities in 21 regions of Ukraine for UAH 2 billion. By March this year, 22 substations and 63 substation elements will receive the second level of protection against drones and shaheds, with UAH 9.4 billion already financed and 12 facilities ready.
According to Nayyem, the third level – protection of 22 substations from missiles in 14 regions of Ukraine – is planned to be completed by the end of 2024, subject to sustainable funding, which is estimated at UAH 67.6 billion.
The second major project being implemented by the Agency, according to its head, is the construction of a 145 km water pipeline to provide 1.5 million people with drinking water after the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant was blown up by Russian troops. The work began in June 2023, and UAH 8.5 billion of the UAH 13.5 billion has already been financed. Nayyem noted that consulting engineers and representatives of independent technical supervision are working at each of the sites, and a comprehensive technical audit of project documentation will be conducted separately with the assistance of the USAID ERA “Economic Support for Ukraine”. In addition, all reports, along with the results of the audit and examination, as well as estimates, will be made public after the examination.
The Head of the Agency added that a special focus is on the reconstruction of social facilities. The reconstruction of settlements affected by the hostilities continues: Borodyanka (Kyiv region), Yahidne (Chernihiv region), Trostyanets (Sumy region), Tsyrkuny (Kharkiv region), Posad-Pokrovske (Kherson region). In total, the Agency is reconstructing 352 objects, including 292 housing, 31 social infrastructure, 16 street and road infrastructure, 8 administrative buildings, and 5 housing and communal facilities. 75 contracts were signed as a result of 87 tenders for UAH 3.8 billion.
Nayyem also said that in 2022-2023, the Agency repaired 330 bridges, and another important area of its work is to provide military logistics and reconstruction in the de-occupied territories. In 2023, traffic was restored on more than 1.2 thousand kilometers of roads and 89 bridges damaged by hostilities were repaired. The Czech Republic, the United States, France, Sweden, and Norway provided artificial bridges, the Agency’s head said.
He reminded that after the outbreak of full-scale war, 70% of exports are delivered by road. In order to develop export routes, 23 checkpoints on the western and southern border have already been transferred to the Agency’s management, and 6 more are in the process of being transferred. Repair work has already begun at 11.
Nayyem also emphasized the changes made by the Agency to reduce procurement abuses, increase transparency of its activities, and prevent corruption. Unified procurement methods for civil construction, monitoring and analysis of procurement services have been introduced, an effective dialogue with the market has been established, and procurement certification according to the standards of the Chartered Institute of Procurement Services (CIPS) has been introduced. The Agency received the Prozorro Awards for its transparent approach to recovery procurement. The Agency signed a memorandum with the NABU on preventing and combating criminal corruption offenses. The Transparency and Accountability Council was established. ISO 37001 certification was launched: management system for combating corruption offenses.
The Agency is the technical administrator of all-Ukrainian systems developed with the support of international partners: DREAM is a single digital route for all reconstruction projects, E-queue is an electronic border crossing system, and GIS RD is a geographic information system for regional development.
