The State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine has signed a memorandum of technical assistance with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), head of the State Geology Service Roman Opimakh said on his Facebook page on Wednesday.
“The document provides for work on digitization of secondary geological information, the development of IT architecture and the functionality of the State Geology Portal,” Opimakh wrote.
The memorandum was signed with EBRD First Vice President Jürgen Rigterink as part of the Raw Materials Week, which is taking place in Brussels with the support of the European Commission and the Ministry of Natural Resources of Ukraine. The signing took place in the presence of the Vice President of the European Commission Maroš Šefčovič and the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ruslan Strilets.
According to the document, the EBRD is the executor, the State Geology Service is the key beneficiary, and specialists of the State Research and Development Enterprise State Geological Information Fund of Ukraine (Geoinform of Ukraine) are the contractors of the project, the head of Ukraine’s Geology Service noted.
“The work is designed for three years and provides for the purchase of equipment and the arrangement of a server room in the first half of 2023 – ventilation, physical access, uninterrupted power supply,” Opimakh informed.
Also next year, at least 20,000 geological information storage units will be digitized and published on the State Geology Portal in accordance with the best world practices.
“The implementation of the project will not only digitize and place secondary geological information in the public domain, but also significantly improve the interface for searching geological reports through interactive maps that will be posted on the State Geology Portal,” the head emphasized.
At the same time, the translation of abstracts, reports and an English-language search engine will become convenient tools for foreign investors interested in the development of Ukrainian subsoil.
According to Opimakh, the key objectives of the project are, in particular, digitization of at least 60,000 units of storage of geological reports, the development of IT infrastructure, the creation of English-language services of databases for managing geological information, the arrangement of a server room, as well as the development of the functionality of the State Geology Portal by creating sets of geological maps and cartographic services of the geological knowledge of the territory of Ukraine.
“The next step will be the signing of an agreement on the provision of technical assistance and the coordination of parameters for the volume and time of work,” the head said.
