Slovakia may begin construction of a highway leading from Kosice to the Uzhhorod-Vysne Nemecke checkpoint on the border with Ukraine, the press service of the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance reported on Friday.
The project of building a new highway was discussed at bilateral talks on improving cross-border communication in Slovakia with the participation of Deputy Finance Minister of Ukraine Oleksandr Kava as part of a government delegation headed by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
“The meeting also discussed the project of building a highway from the Uzhhorod-Vysne Nemecke checkpoint to the suburbs of Kosice. This is part of Slovakia’s main highway, the D1, which connects the country’s two largest cities, Bratislava and Kosice, and is also part of the pan-European network of expressways,” the statement said.
The parties also discussed the issue of opening the Uzhhorod-Vysne Nemecke checkpoint not only for cars, but also for pedestrians and cyclists. The checkpoint will be accessible by public transport from both sides of the border without the need to use a car.
“This is especially important for residents and guests of the regional center of Zakarpattia Oblast, as it will provide them with more opportunities for movement,” the press service adds.
In addition, it is planned to expand the automobile part of the checkpoint from four to five lanes, which will increase its capacity.
Kava, quoted in the report, noted that the agreements reached are a step towards creating a smooth and dynamic cross-border connection.
“They will not only improve the daily lives of our citizens, but will also contribute to overall economic growth together with partner countries,” the deputy minister said.
Earlier, Deputy Minister of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development Serhiy Derkach said that a passenger terminal with several lines of traffic for passenger buses would be built at the Uzhhorod-Vysne Nemecke checkpoint on the border with Slovakia by the end of 2024.
The Ministry of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development is designing a new road parallel to the existing Odesa-Reni highway, part of which runs through the territory of the Republic of Moldova (Palanca village), Deputy Minister of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development Yuriy Vaskov said.
“We are designing a road in parallel with the existing Odesa-Reni highway to organize a connection on Ukrainian territory,” Vaskov said at Infrastructure Day 2023, organized by the European Business Association in Kyiv on Friday.
According to him, the construction of a facility is planned directly on the Odesa-Reni highway.
“In order to solve the problem point by point, we, as the Ministry of Reconstruction, have found funding and want to build a structure to avoid stopping vehicles,” Vaskov said, adding that the issue is being coordinated with the Moldovan side, in particular, with territorial communities in Moldova.
The Deputy Minister noted that there are attempts to illegally cross the border, both successful and unsuccessful.
As you know, a part of the Odesa-Reni highway on the section from Mayaky village to Udobne village (from 51 to 50 km) runs through Moldovan territory.
On June 30, 2011, an act was signed in Chisinau (Moldova) to define and fix the boundaries of the Odesa-Reni highway section near Palanca village and the land plot. Palanca village, as well as the land plot on which it runs. The road section was de jure transferred to the ownership of Ukraine on November 18, 2001, but the act of determining the boundaries on the ground was never determined.
According to the 1999 border agreement, Moldova transferred a 7.7 km section of the Odesa-Reni highway to Ukraine for use, but the territory adjacent to the road near Palanca remained in Moldovan ownership. After the change of power in Moldova in 2009, Ukraine demanded that the territory of almost 1,000 hectares be transferred to its ownership, arguing that Moldova had transferred 450 meters of the Danube coastline to Ukraine in 2002, which enabled it to build the Giurgiulesti seaport.
On the Zhytomyr highway on the M-06 Kyiv-Chop highway, traffic was partially opened for trucks on Saturday, the right passage of the destroyed bridge will be restored at the next stage, Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov said.
“The movement of trucks on the Zhytomyr highway is open. Today we opened the left lane on the international road M-06 Kyiv – Chop near Parking and resumed traffic on the highway for trucks,” Kubrakov wrote on Facebook.
He noted that with the opening of the bridge on the M-06 highway, traffic will be resumed in almost all the main strategic directions of Ukraine and promised that the next step would be the restoration of the right passage of the destroyed bridge.
“We plan to complete the work in the fall,” the minister stressed.
According to him, it took less than two months to build a temporary passage for transport on the site of those destroyed as a result of hostilities.
“It took less than two months to build a temporary span structure on the remains of old structures, arrange a monolithic slab of the span structure and lay a layer of asphalt concrete. The road markings have been updated and appropriate road signs have been installed,” he said.
He stressed that thanks to the blown up bridge on the road to Irpin in the first days of the Russian invasion, the occupiers could not move further and surround the capital.
Kubrakov also reports that immediately after the liberation of the capital region, the construction of temporary crossings and detours began.
“A temporary bridge near Stoyanka was erected in mid-April, but only light vehicles could move through it – trucks were forced to take a detour, wasting extra time and fuel,” he added.
Road workers in the Zhytomyr region on the highway M-21 Vystupovichi – Zhytomyr – Mogilev-Podolsky are equipping a temporary passage parallel to the bridge over the river destroyed due to the war.
According to Ukravtodor on its Facebook page on Wednesday, today citizens have to make an almost 30-kilometer detour.
At present, the contractor group of companies “Avtostrada” equips the base and carries out earthworks.
“The temporary crossing will have two lanes to ensure traffic in both directions. We will pave the detour itself,” the message says.
The contractor plans to complete the construction of the temporary crossing by the end of the month.
In addition, road workers are inspecting and patching on the M-21 road. This applies to those areas where work has not been carried out in recent years, the state agency clarifies.
Ukravtodor also asks drivers to be careful while driving, especially in the northern part of the Zhytomyr region, to adhere to the permitted speed limit and drive according to road signs, as changes in traffic organization are possible. Avtostrada group of companies was created as a joint Ukrainian-German enterprise. From the first days of work, German quality control standards have been introduced at all stages of production. The fleet is equipped with the best examples of the latest technology from leading world manufacturers. Environmentally friendly asphalt plants have been opened, and our own powerful production bases have been created. Maxim Shkil is the owner of the Avtostrada group of companies.
DESTROYED BRIDGE, HIGHWAY, M-21, TEMPORARY CROSSING, АВТОСТРАДА
A tender worth UAH 452 million to repair 25 km of Kropyvnytsky’s bypass road towards Kryvy Rih on the H-23 Kropyvnytsky-Kryvy Rih-Zaporizhia highway was won by a group of road construction companies RDS, the co-founder of the company Yuriy Shumakher has told Interfax-Ukraine.
“We have already formed working brigades in full, and this Saturday [July 4] we are starting construction,” he said.
Schumacher said that the RDS group, as one of the largest players in the Ukrainian road market, understands the importance of the Big Construction project announced by the president, therefore, it is responsible for the quality and deadlines for the work performed.
Turkish Onur Construction International with the best offer of UAH 452.899 million and the Ukrainian-German company Avtostrada with the best offer of UAH 452.9 million also participated in the tender with an expected value of UAH 477.08 million.
The total volume of H-23 road repair in Kirovohrad region this year is 83 km.
RDS Group is included in the top three road construction companies of Ukraine. It includes Kyivshliakhbud and Rostdorstroy. The core business is construction, reconstruction and maintenance of roads and bridges, construction of airfield complexes.
The ultimate beneficial owners of RDS Group are Ukrainian citizens Shumakher and Yevhen Konovalov.
Тhe State Agency of Automobile Roads of Ukraine (Ukravtodor) intends to completely renew the M-05 Kyiv-Odesa highway in 2020-2021.
Ukravtodor said on its Facebook page that it is also planned to equip roadside infrastructure, recreation areas, establish Weigh-in-Motion sites, as well as other security measures on the highway.
“The repaired 25 km of the road (in Kyiv and Cherkasy regions) brought us closer to the goal for 2021 – to carry out the overhaul of the M-05 road over the entire length. For this, we are already designing sections in three areas. In the near future, we are waiting for work to begin on 40 km of the road in Kyiv region, this is the last non-ideal road section in the region … Another important point is the interchanges that will begin to be built this year. One will be near Vita-Poshtova, the other in Chabany. Strategically we plan to completely abandon left turns on the tracks of international importance,” Head of Ukravtodor Oleksandr Kubrakov said.
The agency also notes that it plans to launch long-term maintenance contracts for the M-05 highway. They can be concluded for a period of up to seven years, while now one- or two-year contracts are most common. To date, Ukraine has only one long-term contract for road maintenance in Lviv region, as part of a pilot in the EBRD and EIB project.
The total length of the M-05 highway is 504.6 km.
