City Capital Group (CCG, Kyiv) of Israeli businessman Ofer Kerzner, managing the Platforma art factory in Kyiv, plans to invest more than $50 million in opening new offices in the capital in four years. “The office real estate market is coming to life. All experts predict an increase in the demand in this segment. IT companies are declaring a shortage of quality space. We respond quickly to the increasing interest and are working to become the largest ecosystem of innovative office spaces in Ukraine … During the next four years, the company will use at least $50 million for investment,” Maria Kazantseva, a member of the board of directors of City Capital Group, said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to her, all new CCG projects will be a revitalization of old industrial facilities. All the new office formats of the company (the Voronin factory, the Innovation Park platform and the project in Skovorody Street in Podil) will be included in the umbrella brand Platforma.
City Capital Group was created by Israeli businessman Ofer Kerzner in 2007 to implement projects in the field of development, construction and property management in Ukraine.
The Irish low-cost air carrier Ryanair from October 2019 will open flights from Kyiv to Madrid.
According to the airline’s press release, flights on the Kyiv-Madrid route will be operated four times a week as part of the Ryanair Kyiv Winter 2019 extended schedule, which will be launched shortly.
“The full schedule of Ryanair Kyiv Winter 2019 will be made public soon,” the airline said.
Flights will be carried out from Boryspil International Airport.
As reported, Ryanair announced that in 2019 it plans to open five new flights from Ukraine to Athens (Greece), Dublin (Ireland), Manchester (the United Kingdom), Sofia (Bulgaria), and Paphos (Cyprus) twice a week.
Kyiv Sikorsky Airport in January 2019 handled 224,600 passengers, which was 44.2% more than in January 2018.
The number of passengers on international flights was 219,800 people and that on domestic flights was 4,800 people, the airport’s press service said. The number of flights handled by the airport in January 2019 was 2,282, both arrivals and departures, which was 21.6% more than the same period in 2018. In particular, there were 1,965 international flights and 317 domestic flights.
The most popular international destinations in January 2019 were Sharm el Sheikh (Egypt), Warsaw (Poland), Minsk (Belarus), Vienna (Austria), Ankara (Turkey), Frankfurt am Main (Germany), Berlin (Germany). Odesa, Lviv, and Zaporizhia were popular domestic destinations.
Kyiv Sikorsky International Airport (Zhuliany) is located in the business center of the capital, seven km from the city center. It is the second largest airport in Ukraine in terms of the number of flights and passenger traffic.
The airport has three terminals with a total area is 21,000 square meters. Terminal B is a separate facility for business-class service, it is part of the Fixed Base Operator (FBO) system. The airport’s runway is able to handle B-737 and A-320 aircraft.
In 2018, the airport serviced 2.812 million passengers, which was 52% more than in 2017. The number of flights was 30,248, which was 30.1% more than 2017.
JSC Kyiv River Port plans to build a class A logistic complex with a cargo area and a terminal for a cement base, the port has reported on its website. In addition, the port plans to focus on the development of rail and container traffic; as well as actively develop trade relations and transportation with Belarus.
The logistics complex with a cargo area will occupy an area of 10,000 square meters, of which 2,000 square meters will be reserved for office space.
The railway infrastructure is planned to be used, first of all, for work with sand, crushed stone, metal and cement.
In addition, the company said that, since 2014, the company has provided over UAH 40 million for the development of infrastructure.
“A customs complex with an international checkpoint was built, office buildings, workshops and warehouses were reconstructed and repaired, the territory was cleared of garbage and modern security equipment was installed. The railway line was fully restored and weight complexes were installed,” the company said.
The ships also installed new navigation equipment and modern security equipment, an icebreaking tug and a floating crane were purchased.
“Today, the Kyiv River Port is successfully developing in eight directions, starting with cargo handling services and ending with passenger transportation,” the company said.
Uber has started testing the UberEats food delivery service from Kyiv-based restaurants, the company’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine.
“We’ve started testing Uber Eats in Kyiv. The announcement of the launch of the service will be made soon,” the company said.
At the end of 2018, Uber appointed the ex-CEO of the consulting company Civitta as the head of the UberEats service in Ukraine. Since the end of January 2019, it has actively been recruiting drivers and couriers to work with the UberEats service.
In particular, the largest partners of Uber in Ukraine say that income when working with UberEats could be UAH 11,000 for a walking courier, up to UAH 20,000 for a courier on a scooter or bicycle, and up to UAH 25,000 for drivers with their own car in case of cooperation with the company partner UberDRIVE. When working with Uberlin, income may reach UAH 10,000 without specifying the format.
As previously reported, the international delivery service Glovo, a Spanish start-up founded in Barcelona in 2015 as an on demand service that purchases, picks-up and delivers anything that is ordered through the app, was launched in Kyiv.
Uber in the summer of 2018 announced the launch of UberEats in Kyiv. Also, the company specified that they did not plan to start the work of this service in Ukrainian towns whose population is smaller than 500,000 people.
The Kyiv City Council at a meeting on Thursday approved the tourism fee rate in the amount of 0.4% of the minimum wage for Ukrainian tourists and 1% of the minimum wage for foreign tourists. A total of 76 deputies backed the decision. “In 2019, the amount of this fee for domestic tourism will amount to UAH 16.69, for inbound tourism – UAH 41.73. Taking into account the rates, the city budget should receive at least UAH 35 million,” the press service of the Kyiv City Council reported, citing First Deputy Head of the Kyiv City Administration Mykola Povoroznik.
Earlier, he reported that in 2018, the budget of Kyiv city received UAH 33 million, which is almost a quarter more than in 2017.
As reported, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada in 2019 changed the base for accruing the tourism fee and obliged tourists living in private accommodation to pay it, according to the law amending the Tax Code and other legal acts on the review of some tax and duty rates (bill No. 9260 from the so-called “budget” package of bills).
In addition, the law changes the tourism fee rates in 2019. In particular, for domestic tourists, the rates should not exceed 0.5% of the minimum wage per day, which from January 1, 2019 will be UAH 20.87, for inbound tourism – up to 5% of the minimum wage (UAH 208.65). The final rates will be determined by local councils, but they will not depend on the cost of accommodation or hotel category.