The European Investment Bank (EIB) is considering the issue of a credit line of EUR 50 million to help Ukrzaliznytsia and Ukravtodor eliminate bottlenecks in European transport networks. According to the bank, the matter concerns projects of small transport infrastructure in volume of up to EUR 20 million.
The investments are intended to improve interaction within the framework of the Eastern Neighborhood and provide substantial support for small-scale but locally significant projects. It is also expected that such financing will improve traffic safety.
The EIB document states that the total cost of this framework project is approximately EUR 110 million, but other sources of co-financing are not specified.
Public joint-stock company Ukrzaliznytsia plans to create a separate rail car company, which in 2018 and 2019 would buy 3,500 cars each year using a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), acting Board Chairman of Ukrzaliznytsia Yevhen Kravtsov said at the UZ: Investor Day 2018 conference in Odesa on Wednesday.
“This project will be implemented via the creation of a specialized rail car company, which would receive gondola cars bought for borrowed funds to its balance sheet.
According to a posting on the EBRD’s website, the project was pending approval of the bank’s board on May 23. The bank told Interfax-Ukraine that the consideration of the issue was postponed, and the new date will be announced later.
It is planned that the EBRD would provide a $150 million loan. The total cost of the project is $240.7 million. Some of the sum would be financed by Ukrzaliznytsia and thanks to grants under technical cooperation programs.
The bank said that it is planned to acquire around 6,500 gondola cars with the total need of the company of around 24,000 gondola cars.
Kravtsov said that if a separate company is created, the cars could be used on the market as a private fleet and earn more than the rolling stock of Ukrzaliznytsia.
“For us, these will be unprecedented conditions of work, when we are able to set real tariffs for transportation, which will allow us to talk about the payback of rolling stock and profit for investors. This project gives a signal to other potential investors to invest in Ukrzaliznytsia’s projects and show, how one can earn on them,” Kravtsov said.
He also added that to implement these projects, Ukrzaliznytsia is already negotiating with international companies that operate in the U.S. and European markets.
Transportation on the Kyiv city-the Boryspil international airport route could reach 3.8 million passengers in 2019, according to Ukrzaliznytsia.
The company reported that as of May 22, around 25% of total works to build the high-speed railway line between Kyiv city and the airport was completed. A project on construction of the railway track was designed, the land parcels were allocated, and initial works on the site were started.
“According to preliminary data, the volume of passenger transportation by rail in 2019 will be 3.8 million passengers, with a further increase in 2020 to 4.1 million, in 2021 – to almost 4.4 million,” the company said.
In the future, it is planned to build a railway bridge 272 meters long over the Kyiv-Kharkiv highway, build passenger platforms with sheds near the Boryspil airport, completely equip the ground station and build new railroad tracks with a total length of 3.7 km.
The deadline for finishing construction is December 1, 2018. The total cost of the project is UAH 583.3 million.
Transportation of passengers by rail between Kyiv and the Boryspil airport is organized along the route between the stations Kyiv-Pasazhyrsky – Kyiv-Demiyivsky – Darnytsia – the station named after Kirpa – the Boryspil airport (Terminal D). In the future, another stop is planned near the railway overpass in the area of the highway Kyiv-Kharkiv. The rail buses of the Polish company PESA will run the route.
The estimated travel time will be 35-40 minutes. The train dwell time at the destination stations is 10 minutes.
The construction of a high-speed railway line to Boryspil airport will be completed by December 1, according to the Government Portal website.
“The object will be commissioned by December 1. The construction has started. Now we will finally agree on the type of station,” Acting Chairman of PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia Yevhen Kravtsov said during a meeting with Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.
“It is important to complete the project by December 1 and provide alternative transport to passengers to get to the airport or from the airport through the city and other cities of Ukraine,” Groysman said.
According to the construction project, the line will be built from the Kyiv-Pasazhyrsky station through the Vydubychi station to Terminal D at Boryspil airport. The estimated travel time is 35 minutes.
The rolling stock to be used on the line is 11 PESA 620m trains for 91 seats and two PESA 630m trains with 192 seats.
PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia received UAH 271 million of net profit in January-March 2018, which is 20 times more than in the first quarter of 2017, acting chairman of the company Yevhen Kravtsov has said, when presenting the report of the company’s work for the first quarter of 2018 at a government meeting in Kyiv.
“For the first quarter of 2018, all the main financial and economic indicators of Ukrzaliznytsia were fulfilled and overfulfilled in accordance with the financial plan. In terms of net profit, in the first quarter we received UAH 271 million of net profit, which is 20 times more than in the first quarter of 2017 and 2.5 times more than for the entire 2017. Revenues grew by almost 20%, by UAH 2.5 billion. Capital investments were 20% overfulfilled. Capital investments in the first quarter were three times more than in the first quarter of 2017,” he said.
According to Kravtsov, in the first quarter Ukrzaliznytsia paid UAH 1 billion more taxes than for the same period of 2017.
He also said that 62% of capital investments were used for rolling stock renewal, another 13% for the program of priority capital projects in infrastructure. In January-March 2018 more than 3,000 wagons were repaired, including 1,230 purchased and newly built and 1,892 overhauled cars.
In general, according to Kravtsov, over the first quarter more than 12% of the Ukrzaliznytsia car fleet was updated. Also, the number of freight locomotives was increased by 25 units, while 29 passenger carriages underwent capital modernization.
The Ukrainian government has posted the conditions for tenders to select independent members of supervisory board of Ukrzaliznytsia and Ukrenergo on its website. The documents for participating in the tender can be submitted before May 14. The tender will start on May 21, and its results will be published on the government’s website before July 3, 2018.
Candidates for an independent member of the supervisory board of Ukrzaliznytsia should have at least 10 years’ period of service in senior positions in companies or in the civil service, in particular in such areas as railway transportation, finance, engineering, accounting and audit, management, business administration or jurisprudence, but not limited to them; have an impeccable business reputation; fluent in Ukrainian or English.
In addition, the applicant must not be (including during the previous five years) a founder, shareholder, head, member of the supervisory board, an employee or a representative of a person to which Ukraine applies personal, special economic or other restrictive measures (sanctions), and also do not have a significant business relationship with this person. Candidates must have one or several professional competencies in the following areas: strategic management, rail transport, operational efficiency, finance and audit, corporate governance, compliance and risk management, international relations.
The similar requirements are put forward to the candidates for the position of independent member of the Ukrenergo: no less than ten years of experience in senior positions in companies or in the civil service in the electricity sector, regulation of energy markets, finance, accounting, engineering, management, business administration or law.
Potential members of the supervisory board of Ukrenergo must meet the criteria of independence in accordance with the requirements of the legislation of Ukraine and the EU, pay to the position at least 30 working days a year, be fluent in Ukrainian or English, have a basic understanding of the laws regulating the scope of activities of Ukrenergo and the EU energy market, trends and prospects of the industry.
Key competencies of the candidates for the position of a member of Ukrenergo’s supervisory board are the following: strategic management; management of the power transmission system; competitive electricity market; operational efficiency; finance and audit; corporate governance; compliance and risk management.
The advantage will be the experience of working in supervisory boards, international companies and international markets, the experience of attracting investors and experience in managing transformational processes and complex projects of organizational change.
