PJSC ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (Dnipropetrovsk region) has passed 50 million tonnes of smelter slag to state-run enterprise New Technologies of Road Construction.
The metallurgical complex said on Thursday that after processing into slag crushed stone and sand smelter slag will be used for road construction and repairs under the Big Construction state program.
“We want Ukravtodor and local authorities to use more actively smelter slag provided by ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih the characteristics of which fully comply with the national standards of road construction. It can be used in the base layer and as fine and coarse aggregate for concrete and asphalt roads,” the enterprise’s chief engineer, Andriy Babenko, said.
He also noted that active use smelter slag will improve the quality of road surface, as well as resolve the environmental problems related to accumulation and disposal of waste.
“Moreover, this is an economically reasonable solution, as road construction using such a technology will cost the government less than the use of natural materials,” Babenko said.
According to ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, Ukravtodor plans to use around 500,000 cubic meters of smelter slag for road construction in 2020. As of the middle of August, it has used more than 100,000 cubic meters of smelter slag in Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia regions.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will finance the reconstruction of the Dnipro-Mariupol and Dnipro-Kotovka roads in Dnipropetrovsk region, EBRD Senior Adviser for External Affairs Anton Usov said on his Facebook page. “The head of Dnipropetrovsk region, Oleksandr Bondarenko, and the EBRD Deputy Director in Ukraine, Mark Magaletsky, have signed an agreement to begin preparing a project for the reconstruction of roads in the region. The project cost is estimated at EUR 50 million,” he said.Procurement of goods and services for this project will be carried out in strict accordance with the rules of the EBRD after approval by the board of directors of the bank and signing the corresponding agreement.Usov said that work in this direction was launched in October 2019 in the context of the Re-Think investment forum, which was held in Mariupol (Donetsk region).
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said how it is important to continue to build the roads in Ukraine.
“I want to stress on how important to warm up our economy and give it an impetus after quarantine. That is why the Big Construction Program continues. In 2020, we will allocate UAH 85 billion to state roads and UAH 22 billion – to the local roads,” Zelensky said in a video address to Ukrainians on April 30.
According to him, this will help create thousands of jobs in all regions of our country.
Zelensky noted that on April 30 the issue of providing Ukravtodor with the first tranche from Ukreximbank to upgrade the roads was resolved.
“At the same time, schools, kindergartens and more than two hundred admission departments in supporting hospitals are of our top priority,” he said.
The State Automobile Roads Agency of Ukraine (Ukravtodor) has started overhaul on N-08 road in Cherkasy region on the site from the turn to Kaniv in Sofiyivka village to Pischane village of Zolotonosha district. Ukravtodor said in its Telegram channel that this is the first overhaul in Cherkasy region over the past 12 years.
The agency plans to repair 33.5 kilometers of N-08 road Boryspil-Dnipro-Zaporizhia-Mariupol in 2020.
Under the overhaul of the site, in particular, it is planned to carry out a complex of the following works: regeneration of structural layers of the road surface using cold recycling technology; strengthening the road’s sides and the drainline system from the roadway; construction of the road surface; furniture of auxiliary lanes; construction of road surface and road exits from three layers of asphalt concrete; construction of new landing and stopping areas; furniture of road surface marking and information signs.
In addition, it is planned to repair the bridge over the Supiy River, namely, to install a new monolithic slab and new barrier railings.
The State Automobile Roads Agency of Ukraine (Ukravtodor) starts building a road to Stanytsia Luhanska, Head of Ukravtodor Oleksandr Kubrakov said during an online briefing on Thursday, April 9. “The main thing that starts this week is the road to Stanytsia Luhanska. There are several road sections, but the total length will be 130 kilometers and we are starting to construct this road today,” he said.
According to Kubrakov, there are plans to finish this road construction until mid-July.
The head of Ukravtodor also said that the H-31 Dnipro-Reshetylivka and H-30 Vasylivka-Berdiansk roads are currently under active construction.
“H-31 road is fully in operation. There are 29 kilometers along which no work is underway, because the feasibility study is being developed, but we understand that the president’s task is to complete this road this year, thus we are following the plan. As for H-30 Vasylivka-Berdiansk, some roads are already being commissioned. We hope that when the quarantine ends and the tourist season comes, this road will be opened,” Kubrakov said.
The RDS road construction group, which is already represented in seven regions of Ukraine, is preparing for the expansion of its geographic footprint in the country, the co-owner of the group, Yevhen Konovalov, has said.
“Today we work in seven regions – Odesa (in the region and its central city), Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad, Cherkasy, Poltava, Vinnytsia and Kyiv regions. I would like to keep the list of the regions we are planning to enter this year a secret, but we have plans for at least three regions today. We will give more information about them soon,” he said in an exclusive interview to Interfax-Ukraine.
According to Konovalov, competition on the road construction and maintenance market has increased in recent years due to a growth in activities of Ukrainian and foreign companies.
“In order to stay afloat, we should expand the chain of our plants and production facilities. This will allow us saving the usual level of production and work load. They say that big companies are monopolizing the market, acting in collusion, but this is not true. Competition in our market is extremely high, we are competing using technologies and human resource,” the co-owner of group said.
While commenting on peculiarities of tenders in this area in Ukraine, Konovalov stressed that the cost of further maintenance should be included in the price of road construction.
“The tender amount can be very big at once, as it should include both the construction and road maintenance for a term of three to five years. Hence, tender financing should be as follows: UAH 100 million directly for the construction and another UAH 30 million for maintenance,” he said.
The co-owner of RDS also said that the group is currently discussing the issue with the management of Ukravtodor State Agency of Automobile Roads of Ukraine.
“The main thing is that the contractor, who had won a road construction tender, should be in charge of maintenance of new roads instead, and not the state represented by regional automobile road agencies with their outmoded equipment,” Konovalov said.
He added that besides maintenance the company should monitor the road quality on its own for five to ten years, as this is guaranteed by banking institutions.
“If the road service requests road repairs, then we will fix it. Otherwise, the bank with withdraw money from our account,” the co-owner of RDS said.
The Ukrainian group of companies RDS includes Kyivshliakhbud and Rostdorstroy. Its core business is construction, modernization and maintenance of roads and bridges, construction of airfield complexes.
The company is building concrete road H-14 Kropyvnytsky-Mykolaiv. As part of the reconstruction of the H-31 Dnipro-Reshetylivka highway in Poltava region, RDS is building an overpass over the railway and the section of the first concrete road in Ukraine. In 2019, the company won a World Bank tender for work on the first category highway M-03 Kyiv-Kharkiv-Dovzhansky.
As of January 2020, the company operates in seven regions of Ukraine and has ten production facilities.
The ultimate beneficial owners of RDS are Ukrainian citizens Yuriy Shumakher and Yevhen Konovalov. The charter capital of the company is UAH 5.13 million.
