The metro reopened in Kyiv and Kharkiv on May 25 after the two-month pause caused by coronavirus. In Kyiv, the metro service is back to the regular schedule. Passengers are required to wear masks, and there are signs indicating the obligatory 1.5-meter distance between passengers.
Metro workers are provided with personal protective equipment.
The Kharkiv metro reopened at 5:30 a.m. on Monday.
“Please be advised that it is prohibited to travel by the metro without a respirator or a mask,” the Kharkiv metro press service said on Facebook.
The metro service in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro (former Dnipropetrovsk) had been unavailable since March 17 in order to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
The capital is planning to introduce the first phase of easing restrictive quarantine measures from May 12, Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko said.
“We are approaching May 12, the day from which we plan to introduce the first stage of easing restrictions in the capital. We plan to open in Kyiv: non-food stores (with a total area of up to 300 square meters), hairdresser and beauty salons (by appointment and not more than one client for each service at the same time), parks and squares, walks in groups with a limited number of people, small architectural forms, with the prohibition of the consumption of food and drinks on the spot, small-sized production facilities of non-food goods and consumer services (atelier, domestic services, etc.),” Klitschko said at a briefing on Friday.
According to him, lawyers and notaries, auditors, as well as drive-in theaters, open-air museums, and libraries will be able to work (so far only lending books service, without reading rooms).
The mayor said that compliance with safety rules by employees and visitors of institutions is required.
“Thermometry of employees and visitors is mandatory. Following safety rules is required. If a client has no mask, he either does not enter the room, or it is the responsibility of the service provider who must provide a client with a mask,” Klitschko said.
The mayor said that at the first stage of easing, large shopping and entertainment centers, as well as schools, kindergartens, playgrounds, coastal recreation areas will remain closed.
He said that ground-based public transport will work at the first stage of easing.
“That is for sure until May 22. However, we will increase the number of routes to those areas that are not currently covered. The increase in routes will concern electric vehicles, namely, trolleybuses and trams,” Klitschko said.
According to him, businesses that will begin work should solve the issue of bringing its employees to workplaces.
“Metro, as I have repeatedly said, will be opened by decision of the government. It will not be right away,” the mayor said.
According to him, at the first stage of easing restrictive measures, the government allowed the summer areas of cafes and restaurants to work. The capital’s emergency committee approved the conditions for their work on Friday.
Kyiv Sikorsky International Airport has asked the president of Ukraine, the prime minister, the Minister of Infrastructure and the mayor of Kyiv to take a number of measures aimed at providing assistance for its maintenance in connection with quarantine. The corresponding appeal of Kyiv International Airport and Master Avia LLC was posted on the airport’s website.
The authorities, in particular, are asked to provide financial assistance in the amount of UAH 22 million per month for the payment of salaries to employees and to maintain the airfield and the airport in working condition for the period when it stopped working and quarantine is over until a passenger flow reaches 20,000 passengers per month for departure.
It also asks to remove restrictions for Kyiv Airport in terms of performing flights during the suspension of flights, because, as the company explains, at present, preferences for the operation of transport, business aviation and evacuation flights are provided exclusively to Boryspil airport.
They also ask to allocate a targeted subsidy of $15 per passenger to provide discounts to airlines for a period of 1.5-2 years for the resumption of passenger traffic, provide assistance in refinancing a loan in the amount of $28 million at a minimum interest rate and with a long-term maturity, provide land tax benefits for Master Avia LLC and Kyiv International Airport, create a commission to support the aviation industry with the participation of representatives of Master Avia LLC and Kyiv International Airport.
Gross take-up of warehouses in the Kyiv market in January-March 2020 grew by 15% year-over-year, to 28,800 square meters, according to a survey of Cushman & Wakefield Ukraine. “According to our experts, in the first quarter of 2020, the net take-up in the segment was negative and amounted to approximately minus 40,800 square meters, which is mainly due to a change in the rental strategy of the owners of several facilities in the period before the spread of COVID-19,” Head of Research and Development Consultancy at Cushman & Wakefield Ukraine Marta Kostiuk.
According to the company, preliminary leases amounted to 85% of the total volume of transactions in the first quarter.
Since the beginning of the year, there was no new offer on the warehouse real estate market of Kyiv. However, by the end of 2020, two facilities with a total area of 60,000 square meters will go live.
According to the survey, the primary vacancy of warehouses in March 2020 increased 2.1 percentage points compared to the end of 2019 and amounted to 2.9%. Moreover, the occupancy rate of the facilities planned for launch this year is already 40-100%, the company said.
Base rental rates for high-quality class A warehouses in Kyiv and its suburbs remained at $4-5.8 per sq. m. a month, and class B $3.2-3.8 per sq. m. a month.
“Given the growing risks associated with the economic slowdown amid the spread of COVID-19, from the second half of March 2020, a number of tenants in the warehouse and logistics real estate market in Kyiv and its suburbs initiated negotiations with lessors in order to minimize their rental costs,” Kostiuk said, clarifying that the provision of preferential conditions for tenants is individual in nature and is not a trend.
The State Agency of Automobile Roads of Ukraine (Ukravtodor) has announced its intention to overhaul 40 km of the M-05 Kyiv-Odesa road at the expense of funds from international financial organizations, Onur Taahhut Tasimacilik Insaat Ticaret Ve Sanayi A.S. (Turkey) was determined as the contractor with a contract signed for the amount of EUR65.033 million.
The agency said on Telegram the reconstruction of the road section (km 87+442 – km 128+028) will be carried out as part of the project for improving the transport and operational condition of roads on the approaches to Kyiv, which is implemented for credit funds of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
According to Ukravtodor, in particular, the matter concerns three facilities where road, bridge, drainage and other works will be carried out.
“Based on the results of open international tenders in accordance with the principles and rules of the EBRD, Onur Taahhut Tasimacilik Insaat Ticaret Ve Sanayi A.S. was determined as the contractor. A contract was signed with it on January 20, 2020 for a total of EUR65.033 million excluding VAT,” the report says.
According to Ukravtodor, the contractor is currently carrying out preparatory activities. The active phase of the overhaul of the site will begin after the issuance of an appropriate permit for road work by the State Architectural and Construction Inspectorate.
The State Agency of Automobile Roads of Ukraine (Ukravtodor) plans to complete the repair of the M-03 Kyiv-Kharkov highway within Poltava region in 2020.
Ukravtodor said on Telegram the total length of the road within Poltava region is 285 km. At the same time, 265 km of roads are on the balance of the service in the region. Another 4 km of the road that passes through Poltava is on the balance of the city council, due to a question about the repair of which the project of the complete update of the M-03 road was frozen for some time.
According to the agency, in order for the situation to budge, a budget program was formed in the national budget of Ukraine on the initiative of the government and Ukravtodor to repair the M-03 road section within Poltava. It is to be repaired this year.
“The section of the Kyiv-Kharkiv route that passes through Poltava has remained a stumbling block for many years. This year, thanks to the coordinated cooperation of all branches of government, we managed to attract financing for the repair of the problem area,” the press service said citing head of Ukravtodor Oleksandr Kubrakov.
