The European Investment Bank will provide Ukraine with EUR 50 million for vaccination against COVID-19, Deputy Health Minister Ihor Ivaschenko said during a press briefing in Kyiv on Monday.
“Last week, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a president’s order authorizing Health Minister Maksym Stepanov to sign a letter amending the financial agreement between Ukraine and the EIB,” he said.
“The government has asked the EIB to redistribute part of the funds and channel them to the vaccination of the population in Ukraine. The Cabinet of Ministers has received confirmation of the provision of EUR 50 million, which will be used for the purchase of vaccines, equipment for the refrigerating chain, as well as logistics. Relevant amendments to the agreement will be signed in the near future,” the deputy minister said.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) invested over EUR 1 billion in Ukraine in 2020 alone. This represents an increase of more than 50% compared to 2019, the press service of the bank has reported.
“We delivered record investment of over EUR 1 billion in Ukraine in 2020, focusing our operations on support for conflict-affected regions of eastern Ukraine, sustainable and green infrastructure, digitalization, innovation and business recovery after COVID-19,” the press service said, citing EIB Vice-President Teresa Czerwińska, who is responsible for operations in Ukraine.
She said that Ukraine is the main recipient country of EIB investments in the Eastern Neighbourhood, accounting for more than 60% of the EIB’s lending activity in the region and supporting the European Union’s policies in its neighbourhood.
According to the report, total EIB investment in Ukraine has now reached EUR 7.5 billion.
The EIB financed small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to ensure they can survive the crisis and continue to provide jobs. It also invested in infrastructure rehabilitation and development, innovation and improvements in public transport and key public services such as education and the postal service.
In 2020, the EIB supported 75 SMEs and mid-caps and helped sustain close to 18,500 jobs in Ukraine.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will allocate EUR 270 million to the state-owned enterprise Boryspil International Airport for the implementation of an investment plan to improve infrastructure and expand capacity.
According to a posting on the bank’s website, the board of directors approved the project on December 16 this year.
The EIB document states that the total cost of this project is approximately EUR 351 million, but other sources of co-financing are not specified.
According to the financial institution, this operation is covered by the EU guarantee for EIB loans outside the EU, and the organizer of the work must ensure that any procurement procedures are carried out in accordance with the EIB procurement guidelines and EU public procurement rules.
“Major works include the rehabilitation of the western airfield system, including the western runway (18R-36L), which has been operating for more than 50 years and is in poor condition, the associated parallel taxiway, the airfield ground lighting and the instrument landing systems, plus a range of other associated airside infrastructure works,” the bank said on its website.
As reported, earlier the Ministry of Infrastructure offered the EBRD to participate in financing the Boryspil airport investment plan.
A loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) in the amount of EUR 100 million will be directed to overhaul of 183 km of roads in Luhansk region, the State Agency for Highways of Ukraine (Ukravtodor) reported.
Funds are provided for capital and current average repairs of the sections:
– route N-26 Chuhuiv – Milove: it covers more than a hundred kilometers, which are planned to be repaired for borrowed funds, because this road connects Luhansk and Kharkiv regions;
– the road P-66 checkpoint “Demyno-Oleksandrivka” – Svatove – Lysychansk – Luhansk, which starts from the border with Russia, a 35 km section has already been repaired, the road is planned to be fully restored;
– road T-13-02 checkpoint “Taniushivka” – Starobilsk – Bakhmut, where work will begin at once on two sections, with a total length of 42 km.
“In 2020, Ukravtodor completed a record amount of road work in Luhansk region: almost 200 km were restored at the beginning of December, and work continues for another 100 km. For comparison, over the past 10 years, only 130 km of roads were renewed. This is one of the most low indicators in the country,” said head of Ukravtodor Oleksandr Kubrakov.
According to him, in 2021, thanks to the funds of international partners, Ukravtodor will restore the transport “triangle” along the Severodonetsk-Starobilsk-Svatove route with access to Troyitske in the north of the region, and in general, thanks to the Big Construction program, a modern road network in the region.
Earlier, the World Bank for Reconstruction and Development has already provided co-financing for this project in the amount of $65 million.
Kharkiv received the first low-floor, one-section trolleybus out of 49 comfortable trolleybuses purchased under loans from the European Investment Bank (EIB).
According to the press service of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine on Thursday, October 22, this became possible due to the participation of Kharkiv in the Ukraine Urban Public Transport project, which is a framework loan from the EIB.
As part of the project, the city received a EUR 10 million loan for the renewal of the trolleybus fleet.
“Kharkiv became one of the 11 member cities and has already received today the first low-floor trolleybus out of 49. By the end of the year we hope to conclude an agreement with the EIB on the implementation of the second part of the project Urban Public Transport II, which will provide for the purchase of only environmentally friendly transport. I am sincerely grateful to our partners from the EIB, who support us both in the implementation and in the continuation of this important project for the cities,” Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Vladyslav Krykliy said.
Trolleybuses for Kharkiv were manufactured by the subsidiary Car Assembly Plant No.1 of Automobile Company Bogdan Motors.
According to the delivery schedule, 49 trolleybuses will arrive in Kharkiv by the end of 2021. The whole delivery will include 12 two-section and 37 single-section trolleybuses.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is ready to provide funds to Ukraine to implement energy and energy saving projects if the risk factors can be controlled, Head of the EIB Resident Representation for Ukraine Jean-Erik de Zagon said.
He said that the EIB is ready to provide the funds if the Ukrainian government can convince the bank of the economic viability of the potential projects. .
He said at the 11th Energy Day organized by the European-Ukrainian Energy Agency on Thursday.
At the same time, the Head of the EIB Resident Representation in Ukraine said that the bank sees many opportunities for cooperation with the government of Ukraine, specifying that “the EIB in Ukraine has a portfolio totaling EUR 6.5 bln. It includes many project in energy sector, social and economic infrastructure, transport and connectivity, local private sector development, and innovation. ”
At the same time, according to de Zagon, with regard to international projects on energy efficiency, Europe highly values a clearly defined time frame for achieving climate change.
Speaking about projects that may be of interest to the bank in the future, he pointed out among the others the need to develop bioenergy. As for the diversification of projects, it is likely that biomass will deserve new attention. It is one of the decarbonization tools. It is challenging, but this is the need to process those resources that are raw materials for renewable energy in Ukraine, de Zagon said.
He also focused on that Ukraine has a good existing gas transmission system (GST). It offers a vast potential where development is most necessary by ensuring that the transmission system is supportive of renewable energy (like transport of hydrogen) the EIB representative said.
At the same time, he explained what donors pay attention to when making decisions on financing certain projects and what Ukraine needs to take into account and do in order to receive international funding. This is about the need to balance positions on the energy market and promote legislative initiatives so that legislation of Ukraine met European requirements and standards, he said.
As for the National Action Plan, the EIB is pleased to cooperate with the government of Ukraine in its implementation, de Zagon said.
