Construction of new grain and oilseeds transshipment facilities at the Mykolaiv seaport will start in the rear of berth eight. Private investment will total over UAH 1.2 billion, the Ukrainian Sea Port Authority has reported. “We are investing our own funds and are actively cooperating with port operators and private businesses. This is the development of the berth and rear infrastructure of berths zero and eight. This will increase the capacity of the Mykolaiv port for processing grain by more than 2 million tonnes per year, oil – by 750,000 tonnes per year,” Head of the Ukrainian Sea Port Authority Raivis Veckagans said during a working visit to the Mykolaiv seaport.
The Ukrainian Sea Port Authority refused to name investors, adding that this would be a new cooperation for the port. The Ukrainian Sea Port Authority plans to allocate UAH 350 million within the framework of fulfilling the company’s obligations under a public private partnership project for the construction and dredging of berth eight. At the same time, private investment in infrastructure will amount to over UAH 1.2 billion.
According to the Ukrainian Sea Port Authority, the planned grain complex will have a storage capacity of 96,000 tonnes, a warehouse – 40,000 tonnes, as well as other support facilities. Earlier, the Infrastructure Ministry reported that COFCO (China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation) is ready to invest up to $30 million in the berth capacity of the Mykolaiv port and river logistics.
Seaside Terminal intends to invest about UAH 120 million in the reconstruction of the Mykolaiv-Vantazhny railway station in order to increase its capacity.
FACILITIES, GRAIN, INVESTMENT, MYKOLAIV, OILSEEDS, SEAPORT, TRANSSHIPMENT
The World Bank by February 2019 plans to launch the project entitled “Accelerating Private Investment in Agriculture Program,” the press service of the Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry of Ukraine has reported. “The project will be implemented in many sectors by the Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry, Infrastructure Ministry, Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry, Economic Development and Trade Ministry. The approximate cost of the project is $753 million, including the World Bank’s commitment of $200 million,” the ministry said.
According to the ministry, the project is aimed at harmonizing Ukrainian legislation in accordance with EU requirements, improving the government agricultural support system, diversifying the production of the agricultural sector, developing rural areas, strengthening the capacity for food safety, solving logistical issues, improving land use quality, and improving management of water resources, improving access to agricultural resources, improving access to financial resources and risk management tools.
The project coordinator is the Finance Ministry, which will receive a previously agreed loan amount and distribute it among the implementing ministries.
The UFuture Group of businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky plans to attract around $150 million of investment in the Bila Tserkva 2 industrial park registered by the Economic Development and Trade Ministry last week, creating a food industry cluster on its territory, Director of Bila Tserkva industrial park Volodymyr Khmurych has said. “But this [the amount of investment] is no more than forecasts. It is difficult to predict which customer will enter,” he told the Interfax-Ukraine, commenting on the need to create a second industrial park in the territory of the Shakrivka Village Council of Bila Tserkva district, where in April 2018 the first Bila Tserkva industrial park of the UFuture group was registered.
According to Khmurych, the decision to create a second park was dictated by the interest of food industry companies.
“We see the intentions of food processing companies. Today, two memorandums have already been signed, and we want to place these clients separately in the food cluster, taking into account the fact that they have special requirements for the sanitary zone and environmental requirements. And since we have a vacant land parcel, we have decided create a new industrial park on it,” he said.
As reported, the first Bila Tserkva industrial park in the territory of the Shakrivka Village Council was registered by the Economic Development and Trade Ministry in April 2018, the construction of the first plant for the production of Plank Electrotechnic electrical installation systems is currently being completed on its territory.
Khmurych said that if the main focus of the second park is the food industry, then the first one will be focused on other industries.
“Of course, if some customers of the food industry will meet the conditions of the first park, we will not deny them, but we will offer the second one first of all,” he said.
He also said that in the first Bila Tserkva park, in addition to completing the construction of Plank Electrotechnic, the signing of an agreement with another client is at the final stage, but he did not name it.
“Activity is high, almost every day meetings with new clients are held, but projects are complex and decisions are not made quickly,” the park director said.
According to him, it is planned to attract at least $100 million of investment in both parks.
“Only for buildings: this is 10–15 hectares of 35 hectares of the park’s area. This is already $50 million, and plus equipment and other things,” Khmurych said.
BILA TSERKVA 2, INDUSTRIAL PARK, INVESTMENT, UFUTURE, VASYL KHMELNYTSKY
Kyiv Investment Week, a series of business and technological events for investors, business angels, start-ups and entrepreneurs from all over Europe will be held in Kyiv from October 15 to 19, 2018. For five days, the capital of Ukraine will become the main European platform for communication of international and Ukrainian businesses and start-ups. In total, eight events will be attended by about 3,000 participants and 130 speakers from Europe, America and Asia. The objective of Kyiv Investment Week is to represent Ukraine to foreign investors and help participants establish new business contacts and strengthen partnerships.
Kyiv International Economic Forum (KIEF) will become the key event of the week. The fifth anniversary KIEF will be held on October 18-19, 2018 and will bring together world-class economists, famous businessmen, investors and visionaries from more than thirty countries. The leitmotif of the forum will be the future of the countries in the high-tech world. Participants in the KIEF are expected to discuss the strategies and tools of competitiveness, consequences of trade wars, investment attractiveness, as well as the introduction of modern technologies in industry, banking and agrarian spheres, etc.
“During Kyiv Investment Week, several promising business events aimed at increasing the investment attractiveness of Ukraine will be concentrated in Kyiv. This is also one of the main tasks of KIEF. To participate in the forum in Kyiv, numerous delegations of potential investors will arrive to familiarize themselves with the business opportunities of Ukraine. Thus, KIEF and Kyiv Investment Week will really influence the improvement of Ukraine’s reputation in the world,” comments Yuriy Pyvovarov, Head of the KIEF Organizing Committee.
Moreover, the Kyiv Investment Week program includes a one-day business tour for foreign investors around the key points of the Ukrainian start-up ecosystem (October 15, 2018); UNIT Investment Summit in the UNIT.City Innovation Park, which will unite investors, who manage more than $300 million, under one roof (October 16, 2018); the evening of the final presentations of the RadarTech PopCorp FinTech Accelerator (October 17, 2018); Kyiv Barcrowling Week, the week of discounts in the best creative bars and restaurants (October 15-18, 2018); CreativeMornings/Kyiv, the monthly breakfast-lecture for creative professionals (October 19, 2018) and Kyiv Silicon Drinkabout, the Friday’s networking party of the Kyiv high-tech community (October 19, 2018).
Kyiv International Economic Forum (KIEF) is a permanent platform for the formation of Ukraine’s economic development strategy. It is aimed at organizing a dialogue between experts, business and government, adopting the best international experience, creating a roadmap for development and facilitating the conversion of ideas into real actions. www.forumkyiv.org
Ukraine needs foreign direct investment (FDI) to provide stable growth, and one of the fastest instruments for attracting at least $15-20 billion could be the offer of state-owned agricultural land estimated at 10 million hectares, Managing Partner of ICU Investment Group Makar Paseniuk has stated. “Land reform would be a huge driver for the further development of our country, as it can be done quickly and it will quickly attract FDI,” he said at the Ukrainian Financial Forum organized by ICU in Odesa.
Paseniuk said that the total area of agricultural land in Ukraine is estimated at 20-25 million hectares, of which about 10 million hectares still belong to the state. According to him, the average rent rate is $140-150 per hectare a year, which, taking into account the conservative estimate of a 10% rate, entails the cost of land of $1,500-2,000 per hectare.
“Thus, the cost of all state farmland is $15-20 billion, which can be compared with the existing IMF program in the amount of $17.5 billion or more, which twice as much as the NBU’s net reserves of $6.8 billion,” the expert said.
He urged the state to actively offer large investment projects in other sectors.
“I cannot name an economically viable project in which a private investor can now invest $1 billion,” Paseniuk stated.
Ukraine and Norway are negotiating about investments in renewable energy projects for EUR300-400 million, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said. “We are starting work with a number of Norwegian companies that come to build relations in renewable energy. The matter concerns serious investment of EUR 300-400 million,” the minister said at a joint press conference with the Norwegian foreign minister in Kyiv.
According to Klimkin, the matter concerns projects, in particular, related to solar energy.
