Deputy Head of the President’s Office Yulia Svyrydenko notes that all local communities in Ukraine by the end of this year must create regional plans for solid household waste treatment, which was decided at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council.
According to the website of the President’s Office, at a meeting of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities with the participation of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, Svyrydenko said that negotiations are now underway with representatives of Scandinavian countries, which are leading in the construction of modern waste processing plants. At the same time, according to her, investors should receive market tariffs and transparent cooperation with local authorities.
She noted that 462 million tonnes of waste were generated in Ukraine last year, and 10 million tonnes of solid household waste are accumulated annually. The expert also said that there are 33,000 unauthorized landfills in Ukraine.
Zelensky also noted the importance of the issue of waste treatment, since only 4% of municipal solid waste is sorted in Ukraine at overcrowded landfills and illegal landfills.
FOREIGN INVESTORS, SOLID WASTE, WASTE TREATMENT, WASTE TREATMENT PLANT
The adoption of a law simplifying the procedure for privatization and lease of state property will be a signal for investors, including international ones, Deputy Head of the Parliamentary Committee on Economic Development Roksolana Pidlasa (Servant of the People faction) said.
“This bill [No. 4572] will become a green light for investors, including international ones. And it will also contribute to the development of regions, because after its adoption, the budgets of communities will receive funds not only from the privatization of municipal enterprises, but also 10% of the funds received from the sale of state assets,” Pidlasa told Interfax-Ukraine.
She recalled that the Verkhovna Rada has already adopted the bill at the first reading and currently the Committee on Economic Development is preparing it for the second reading.
The MP stressed that “it is privatization that gives people the opportunity not to go strawberry-picking in Poland, but to have a decent job in Ukraine, in their community.” “Hundreds of enterprises and production sites that have been abandoned and forgotten for decades and would hardly ever resume work are bought by private investors and they turn them into modern enterprises where Ukrainians are working now,” Pidlasa said.
The MP recalled that over the past year and a half, the State Property Fund returned ten key assets under state control, including the United Mining and Chemical Company, PJSC Centrenergo and JSC Odesa Port-Side Plant.
As reported, the Verkhovna Rada on July 15 adopted at the first reading bill No. 4572 on amendments to the law on the State Property Fund of Ukraine and other legislative acts promoting investment attraction in the process of privatization and lease of state and municipal property.
The low standard of quality in the commercial real estate market in Ukraine and a lack of systemic changes are the result of withdrawal of foreign investors, Serhiy Serhiyenko, the managing partner of CBRE Ukraine, has said at the meeting “Global Review of Ukraine’s Economy” in Kyiv.
“In order for this to change, the state needs to be ready to help interact with potential investors. Because the barriers to entering the market are huge. Today there are practically no international investors. They were, they tried, and they practically all left. Now we need a thorough approach from the city and the state to plan competitive business infrastructure,” he added.
The managing partner of CBRE Ukraine said that a lack of international players is the reason for stagnation – almost everyone creates the same product with minimal innovations, while there is no systematic change in the approach to real estate, although there is demand for quality products in the country.
“Today, I would say, the commercial real estate market is in a state of stagnation and underdevelopment. We do not have system investors, we do not have a systematic approach to real estate, we have a very low quality standard, despite the fact that there is demand,” the expert said.
According to him, over the past 4.5 years, more than 500,000 square meters of offices have been leased in the Kyiv market, of which 200,000 were rented by IT companies.
He noted that the demand from IT specialists is huge, but it cannot be satisfied, as many companies need large-scale areas of 20,000-30,000 square meters, which can only be provided by systemic international players.
Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine Hugues Mingarelli has recalled the importance of continuing the fight against corruption to attract foreign investment in Ukraine. If we want to create the necessary jobs, we need an economic growth of 5-6%. You need to attract foreign investors for this … To do this, you need to achieve more progress in the fight against corruption and the rule of law, he said during a round table talk titled “Ukraine’s European Choice after the Revolution of Dignity: Opportunities and Problems” in Kyiv.
The European diplomat stressed the need to establish an Anti-Corruption Court in accordance with the recommendations of the Venice Commission.
We know that much has already been done and still needs to be done in the sphere of the rule of law. And we are currently discussing with the Ukrainian authorities the creation of an Anticorruption Court as soon as possible, which would correspond to the recommendations of the Venice Commission, the diplomat added.
Mingarelli also noted the need to harmonize the Ukrainian legislation with the European one.
According to him, the EU considers the law on the land market as important for realizing the potential of the Ukrainian agricultural sector.
Foreign investors actively study materials, come to look at assets and meet with owners, which is evidence of gradual resumption of the interest to Ukrainian assets, according to the 18th edition of the Ernst & Young Global (EY) Capital Confidence Barometer (CCB). “So, we should hope for the return of foreign investors to the capital market of Ukraine,” EY said in the press release. EY conducts CCB study twice a year. Over 2,500 senior executives across 43 countries took part in it. More than half of respondents (52%) indicate that they plan to acquire in the next 12 months. The number of executives expecting to complete more deals in the next year has more than doubled (67% in April 2018 versus 33% in April 2017). According to the analysts, this shows trends of rising economic and corporate confidence.
According to the press release of EY, although the global level of activity of mergers and acquisitions has already exceeded the peak period set before the financial crisis in 2007, Ukraine is still lagging behind in terms of investment activity. However, it shows a positive trend: foreign investors, who before the crisis invested money in the Ukrainian business, for the first time since 2014 begin to compete with local companies for attractive assets.
This was thanks to the fact that Ukrainian companies owned by foreign investors joined Ukrainian companies, which are fully owned by local businessmen, since 2017.
