The State Agency for Roads of Ukraine (Ukravtodor), within the framework of a joint anti-corruption project, will reconfigure its management and procurement practices in accordance with the recommendations of the consultants of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
On Tuesday, March 12, a kick-off meeting was held on the development and implementation of the Anti-Corruption Action Plan for the road industry of Ukraine within the framework of the specified joint project, Ukravtodor said on its Telegram channel.
The loan agreement between Ukravtodor and the EBRD worth EUR 450 million, signed in December last year, provides for the implementation of four important reforms for the road industry: procurement reform, improved traffic safety, development of infrastructure for electric transport and anti-corruption reform.
“We highly appreciate the initiative of Ukravtodor to implement this project, because it should result in a completely updated management system for the road industry. In case of a successful launch of an anti-corruption pilot project in Ukravtodor, this experience can be scaled up to other business entities and public sector organizations who are partners of the EBRD in Ukraine,” head of transport projects of the EBRD Andriy Tsokol is quoted as saying in the message.
The Basel Institute on Governance (Switzerland), an international non-profit anti-corruption organization that works in partnership with the Ukrainian law firm Sayenko Kharenko, has been involved in the work on the implementation of anti-corruption reform.
“By May of this year, the consultants will study and analyze the procurement and management processes in Ukravtodor from the point of view of preventing corruption. Based on the study, it is planned to finalize and approve the Anti-Corruption Action Plan in July 2021. Until 2023, the consultant will accompany the implementation of the Plan in Ukravtodor and its subdivisions,” the message reads.
Head of Ukravtodor Oleksandr Kubrakov also noted that over the past year the agency managed to create uniform procurement rules in the industry, introduce independent technical supervision and additional control of design decisions.
“We worked to prevent corruption risks by digitalizing management processes and improving executive and financial discipline. A pilot project with the EBRD gives a chance for these changes to become irreversible,” he stressed.
As reported, Ukravtodor initiated the inclusion of the Anti-Corruption Pilot Project in the loan agreement with the EBRD in the spring of 2020. The terms of the agreement provide for the mandatory implementation of reforms in order to receive credit tranches.
ANTI-CORRUPTION, ANTI-CORRUPTION PROJECT, EBRD, LAUNCHES, LAUNCHES PROJECT, STATE AGENCY FOR ROADS
The Kyivstar mobile communications operator has launched the Mobile ID service, allowing the digital identification of persons for obtaining e-services using the mobile number. According to a press release of the operator, the service is available in Kyiv, Dnipro, Ivano-Frankivsk, Odesa, Kharkiv, Kherson, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky, Lviv, Zhytomyr and Cherkasy. In total, these cities have 22 open points for issuing Mobile ID SIM-cards and certificates from the accredited key certification center of justice authorities. They can be received by individual entrepreneurs, contract subscribers and corporate clients of Kyivstar from any locality of Ukraine.
“Now we are focusing our efforts on connecting the cities, which are regional centers. We have already covered 11 cities. In the beginning of 2019, we will announce the opening of new locations. And we will move further “deep countryside” to make Mobile ID connection available in small cities,” the press service of the operator said, citing Director for Business Development in the Corporate Market in Kyivstar Yevhen Krazhan.
The operator said that the project was implemented in partnership with the accredited key certification center of the judicial authorities, which is an authorized provider of electronic trust services. All points, where Mobile-ID SIM-cards are issued, have been duly certified, as well as the staff responsible for connecting the service to users.
According to Kyivstar, the large-scale implementation of Mobile ID will simplify the provision of services to the population by government and commercial institutions, eliminating the intermediary link between the source of services and the customer and, thus, reducing excessive red tape, queues and costs.
The Mobile ID service can be used to obtain electronic public services (driver’s license, car registration, residence registration, income declaration, voting and petitions, receiving social assistance); health care (medication, access to the history of the disease, monitoring indicators) and education (access to the website of the educational institution and personal account, distance education, receiving certificates, extracts). It can also be used for the financial and banking sectors (payments, opening/closing accounts, receiving references, insurance, loans); corporate market (login, workflow, VPN, mobility), for online purchases, auctions and other services.
To connect to the Mobile ID, a subscriber needs to contact the certified connection point with the original passport and identification code and replace the SIM card with a new having Mobile ID support for free.
In this case, the subscriber receives a free digital certificate of a natural or legal person for a period of one year. The cost of using the Mobile ID service is already included in the tariff plans with a monthly fee of UAH 225 per month, for other tariff plans it is UAH 50 per month.
The operator invites service providers to cooperate to jointly expand the online services available to the public.
Coca-Cola Beverages Ukraine that belongs to U.S. Coca-Cola Company has launched a new production line with a capacity of 40,000 PET bottles per hour at its plant in Brovary (Kyiv region), Coca-Cola Beverages Ukraine Public Affairs and Communications Director Andriy Bublyk wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday.
“Since yesterday [December 10], this investment has been launched at our plant and sends consumers 40,000 bottles of their favorite drinks every hour,” he wrote.
The company said that the project was implemented in two and a half months, the volume of investments in the project amounted to EUR 10.5 million.
“Today, the plant has 12 lines with a total production capacity of more than 100 million unit cases (1 unit case equals 5.678 liters) of products per year,” Coca-Cola Beverages Ukraine said.
Coca-Cola Beverages Ukraine is one of the leaders in the Ukrainian market of soft drinks. It is the official bottler of The Coca-Cola Company.
Coca-Cola Beverages Ukraine produces a wide range of non-alcoholic beverages in various categories – sweet carbonated drinks, juices, water, energy drinks and cold teas.
The first plant of the company in Ukraine was opened in Lviv.
Currently, the company owns one plant in Brovary (it started operating in 1998).
The company’s products are distributed through 21 distribution centers.
Mriya agroholding launches interactive map for beekeepers
Mriya agroholding has launched a first interactive map of bee plants in Ukraine, where it has fields with all bee plants of the agroholding. The press service reported that the map also indicates variety of plants, the projected period of blooming, information about scheduled spraying works and the required number of be families for good entomogamy and other information.
Director for Public Relations and Social Projects at Mriya Nonna Shmidik said that the agroholding actively supports the cooperative movement and the share of beekeeping cooperatives among those created by the agroholding is large. This tool would allow beekeepers to effectively organize their work, gather more honey and increase income.
“Beekeepers from six regions of Western Ukraine, where Mriya operates (Ternopil, Khmelnytsky, Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Rivne) using this tool will be able to access the relevant information on more than 60,000 hectares of bee plants grown by the agroholding , apply for and reserve seats for their apiaries in certain areas. In addition, users of the interactive map are provided with SMS-information about the blooming time and the application of crop protection agents,” the agroholding said.
Vodafone Ukraine has launched new roaming tariffs for prepaid subscribers and the charged unlimited traffic service for Viber, WhatsApp and Skype, the company reported on Wednesday. “New roaming tariffs for free communication… during overseas trips to more than 75 countries. The updated tariffs offer affordable mobile Internet and unlimited messaging, as well as lower cost of calls in roaming,” the company said.
The cost of 15 minutes of calls in roaming will start from UAH 35, including in the countries as Austria, the UK, Denmark, Egypt, Israel, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Canada, Norway, Netherlands, UAE, Poland, Portugal, the United States, Thailand, Turkey, Hungary, Croatia, France, Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, Montenegro, Estonia, Switzerland and Japan. The indicated cost of calls includes all incoming and outgoing calls to Vodafone Ukraine subscribers’ numbers, numbers of subscribers of other Ukrainian operators, as well as outgoing calls to local numbers of the host country.
In addition, the operator offers a package that includes 100 MB of mobile Internet and unlimited messaging within 24 hours in Viber, WhatsApp and Skype (including text messages and images) for UAH 40. The cost of sending SMS or MMS in roaming to all networks is UAH 15 for 15 messages.
Basic tariffs are valid if subscribers are registered in any network. A detailed list of countries in which new tariffs are in effect can be found on the operator’s website.
