The European Investment Bank (EIB) is considering providing Ukraine with EUR220 million for infrastructure restoration, including road and bridge repairs, the State Agency for Infrastructure Restoration and Development of Ukraine has reported.
According to a Facebook post on Wednesday, the possibility of financing reconstruction projects and the progress of their implementation were discussed with EIB representatives by the agency’s head Mustafa Nayyem and head of the project management team Vadym Nozdria.
As a reminder, in June 2023, the EIB allocated EUR 50 million of EU grant funds under the NIP platform for modular bridges for the regions of Ukraine most affected by the Russian invasion.
Police investigators exposed the scheme of stealing budget funds during the repair work of a kindergarten in one of the cities of Kharkiv region, reports the press service of the Kharkiv regional Prosecutor’s office.
“This scam in 2021 was organized by the mayor of the locality…. Director of the firm (which carried out repairs) and two of his employees … All four perpetrators are reported on suspicion on the fact of seizure of other people’s property by abuse of their official position, committed on a large scale by an organized group (part 5 of article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), and on the fact of official forgery, committed by an organized group (part 3 of article 28, part 1 of article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)”, – stated in the message.
The name of the city is not specified in the message.
According to the investigation, during the execution of works in the reporting documentation were entered false data regarding the cost of used construction materials and the volume of work. In particular, the documents included works that were actually performed by employees of the municipal utility company of the city Council.
Thus, the members of the group managed to seize almost UAH 400 thousand of budget funds.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) fined four companies UAH 7.1 million for collusion in tenders for construction and repair of premises in the military and medical sectors, the agency’s press service said.
According to the report, LLC “Kraevid+”, LLC “Interval Bud”, LLC “BVK “Altera” and LLC “Prospect Budcenter” were fined for collusion in bidding for the construction of a training class of a military unit and a dormitory, repair of a unit training center and a gym for military personnel. In addition, the procurement included the reconstruction of the infectious disease department of Smelyanska city hospital and reconstruction of the Vyshgorod central district pharmacy.
The AMCU found that the above-mentioned companies financially supported each other during the procurement and synchronized their actions at the auction, involved the same person for the preparation of financial statements, management of bank accounts, etc.
In addition to the fine, the companies are prohibited from participating in public procurement for three years.
According to Opendatabot, the owner of “Kraevid+” (Chernihiv) is Fedor Filipov, “Interval Bud” (Cherkasy) – Igor Shchur, “BVK “Altera” (Cherkasy) – Dmitry Zaporozhets, “Prospect Budcenter” (Cherkasy) – Vladimir Diachok.
The Danish company Aarsleff Pipe Technologies, engaged in trenchless rehabilitation and repair of pipelines, has handed over equipment to Ukraine for the repair of water supply and drainage systems in war-affected areas, the press service of the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine has reported.
According to the report, equipment worth UAH 1.2 million was delivered to Zhytomyr, Malyn, Berdychiv, Korosten (all in Zhytomyr region), Kramatorsk (Donetsk region), Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and Sumy.
Earlier, Aarsleff and the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development agreed to supply equipment valued at EUR 400,000.
Aarsleff Pipe Technologies is engaged in trenchless pipeline renewal. The company is listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen A/S and the group has annual revenue of EUR 1.6 billion.
Romania has announced a tender for the repair of a broad-gauge railway connecting its Danube river port of Galati and the Moldovan river port of Giurgiulesti in order to transport grain from Ukraine without changing the rolling stock, since exports from Ukrainian seaports are blocked by warships of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation.
On the relevant statement of the Minister of Transport of Romania, Sorin Grindeanu, MP of Ukraine Dmitry Solomchuk (Servant of the People faction) wrote on his Telegram channel on Monday.
“Romania plans to urgently repair the old broad-gauge railway connecting the port of Galati from Giurgiulesti, located across the border with Moldova, so that freight trains loaded with grain from Ukraine can reach the ships without wasting time changing wheels at the border. A tender has been announced,” the MP said. in the social network.
According to Solomchuk, the advantage of the port of Galati is the ability to load both river and sea vessels.
Transportation of Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea remains the cheapest solution, despite the increase in the cost of ship insurance due to the Russian blockade of the Black Sea.
“Minister of Transport Sorin Grindeanu said that this Danube port, together with the port of Constanta, will become one of the key points in the region for the transport of goods and raw materials. Ukraine exports most of its grain to North Africa, and the Black Sea is the shortest route. Alternatives would be through the port Gdansk or Trieste, but the routes would be much longer,” the deputy summed up.
As reported, the Ukrainian and Romanian relevant ministries at the end of March began negotiations on the export of agricultural products from Ukraine through European seaports, including the Romanian port of Constanta.
The first cargo of Ukrainian corn weighing 71 thousand tons since the beginning of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine left the Black Sea port of Constanta on April 29 to the recipient.
The countries bordering Ukraine have responded to its problem with the export of agricultural products and have already significantly simplified the procedures for registering freight traffic or are actively working on it. In particular, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, as well as Italy, Turkey, Bulgaria, Georgia, Denmark, Greece, Austria introduced liberal conditions for Ukrainian carriers.
Before the Russian military invasion, Ukraine monthly exported about 5 million tons of agricultural products through the ports of Odessa and Nikolaev, but now, due to their naval blockade by the Russian Federation, it can transport about 500 thousand tons of grain monthly. This leads to a monthly shortfall of about $1.5 billion in export earnings for the country.
The State Roads Agency of Ukraine (Ukravtodor) intends to repair 6,800 km of roads in 2021, said head of the agency Oleksandr Kubrakov.
“In 2020, the road sector has become a state priority. The program for 2020 envisages 4,000 km of roads. In 2021, we plan to repair and build more than 6,000 km of roads,” he said during an online presentation of the first public-private partnership program on Thursday.
