The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), under the Green Cities project, intends to provide Spetskomuntrans Communal Enterprise with a loan of EUR 28.5 million to finance the project for the rehabilitation and modernization of solid waste infrastructure in the city of Khmelnytsky, valued at EUR 36.5 million
According to information on the bank’s website, the decision on the project can be made on July 8, 2020. Now the project is under consideration.
The loan split into several tranches co-financed by up to EUR 5 million investment grant from the EU Neighborhood Investment Platform and up to EUR 3 million local contribution.
The project includes two phases. The phase I of the Project will address the city’s urgent investment needs with respect to the rehabilitation of the existing landfill, the construction of a new engineered sanitary landfill in compliance with the EU standards adjacent to the old one, the acquisition of new landfill equipment to ensure sustainable operation of the new landfill and improvements of the solid waste collection and transportation systems, co-financed from the city budget.
The phase II of the project includes the construction of a new material recovery facility for non-organic waste and a separate composting facility for pre-sorted organic waste. The EBRD said that this will reduce the share of solid waste going to the landfill.
Spetskomuntrans Communal Enterprise is responsible for the collection, treatment and disposal of municipal solid waste in Khmelnytsky. The company has contracts with more than 92,000 households and almost 3,000 commercial and public organizations for waste removal and disposal. The company is also an operator of the existing landfill located in the territory of the city.
EBRD, EUR, KHMELNYTSKY, LOAN, MLN
Average vacancy of business centers in Khmelnytsky was 6.7% by August 2019 and by late 2020 it is planned to expand total supply of office space by 24,100 square meters thanks to the launch of eight new business centers, UTG consulting company (Kyiv) has reported.
“In 2018, supply in Khmelnytsky was expanded with two business centers with a lettable area of 8,400 square meters: Luxury class B business center (GLA is 3,700 0 square meters) and Parus class A business center (GLA is 4,700 square meters) However, the main increase in office space in the city was seen in 2016, when 26.4% of the total market supply was built or reconstructed and put into operation, or in absolute terms – lettable area of 12,400 square meters,” UTG Senior Analyst Oksana Gavrilevich told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to her, as of August 2019 in Khmelnytsky there were 19 office buildings with a total lettable area of 51,100 square meters, which corresponds to an indicator of 187.8 square meters per 1,000 inhabitants.
In the structure of supply, business centers of class A occupy 9.2% of the total supply (4,700 square meters), class B – 52.4% (26,800 square meters) and class C – 38.4% (19,600 square meters).
The average vacancy rate in the city’s business centers in August 2019 in terms of classes was: 19% for class A, 7.3% for class B and 2.9% for class C.
The requested rental rates (excluding VAT and OPEX) in office premises in August were: for class A – UAH 300 per square meter ($12), class B – UAH 142 per square meter ($ 5.7), class C – UAH 94.7 per square meter ($3.8).
“For the coming years, office premises are announced for commissioning only in class B. Given the timely commissioning of new projects, by the end of 2021, the total leased area of the city’s business centers will be 65,300 square meters, or 239.8 square meters per 1,000 inhabitants,” Gavrilevich said.
Reikartz Hotel Management LLC (Kyiv), the managing company of the national hotel chain Reikartz Hotel Group, has signed an agreement to manage the Soniachny Provans (Sunny Provence) hotel in Sataniv (Khmelnytsky region), which has become part of the network under the Vita Park brand.
“The Soniachny Provans hotel in Khmelnytsky region has become a new member and the seventh resort hotel in the Reikartz Hotel Group chain. From August 1, the hotel starts operating under the name Vita Park Soniachny Provans ” Reikartz said on its website.
According to the report, the hotel has 99 rooms of various categories, as well as a restaurant, a conference room, a swimming pool, as well as a SPA center.
“Work on the implementation of operating, sales and marketing standards is already underway. The company plans not only to develop a finished product, but also expand the range of services for guests. Soon, a full-fledged Swedish line and a team of animators will begin to work in the hotel,” the operating director of Reikartz Hotel Group, Andriy Dema, said.
Reikartz Hotel Management LLC was established in 2008.
The UFuture investment group of Ukrainian businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky plans to invest $2.5 million in construction of a composite plant in the Bila Tserkva industrial park within two years. “We together with Volodymyr Khmurych director of the Bila Tserkva industrial park laid the capsule of the new plant in the industrial park. Here in six months there will be a composite plant. In America, composite materials have already replaced metal by 15-17%,” Khmelnytsky wrote on his Facebook page.
According to him, the plant intends to create 100 jobs.
“Before starting the construction of a large plant, we leased a place in the workshop, bought one line of equipment, adjusted it and launched the first batch of the product. It cost only $85,000, we made sure that everything works, that the quality of the product is high, and decided to scale up production,” Khmelnytsky said.
He recalled that this will be the second plant in the Bila Tserkva industrial park, and by the end of the year it is planned to build three more.
As reported, the first plant in Bila Tserkva industrial park – Plank Electrotechnic, which will be the first in Ukraine to produce modern electrotechnic systems, was officially opened in April of this year. UFuture invested $ 2.8 million in its creation.
UFuture unites companies and social projects of Khmelnytsky. The group includes the Bila Tserkva industrial park, the UDP development company, the Sikorsky Kyiv International Airport, outdoor advertising operator RTM-Ukraine, as well as innovative businesses: UDP Renewables (creates and develops photovoltaic power plants under its control), the pharmaceutical company Biopharma, innovative parks UNIT.City and LvivTech.City.
UDP Renewables, part of UFuture Group of Vasyl Khmelnytsky, has built a solar power plant with an installed capacity of 18 MW in Kherson region, the businessman said on his Facebook page. “UDP Renewables has built an 18 MW solar plant in Rykove (Kherson region). Considering the fact that the Kherson sun is much more efficient than in Kyiv, we plan to fully pay back the investment ($18 million) in five or six years. The station will be connected in a few months,” he wrote. Khmelnytsky added that during the construction of the solar plant, racks, cables and inverters of Ukrainian origin were used, while solar panels were imported from China. To build the station, according to the businessman, the territory of the former industrial zone, unusable for agriculture, was used.
As reported, earlier the group of Khmelnytsky built the first stage of a solar plant with a capacity of 6 MW in the village of Velyka Dymerka of Kyiv region. After the construction of the first stage, the group attracted Spanish-based Acciona Energia Global as a partner for the expansion of the project.
UFuture Investment Group, headquartered in Brussels, was established in autumn 2017 and united the business projects of Vasyl Khmelnytsky. The group includes the Ukrainian development company UDP, whose specialization is the implementation of large infrastructure projects. In addition, the conglomerate united businesses in such areas as UDP Renewables, the Bila Tserkva industrial park, the innovative parks UNIT.City, and LvivTech.City.
Businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky’s UFuture investment group will participate in the development of a project to create in Astana (Kazakhstan) a copy of the innovation park UNIT.City, which UFuture has been developing for several years in Kyiv. “I’ve just returned from Kazakhstan, where I was at the invitation of Prime Minister Bakhytzhan Sagintayev. We’ve agreed we will help create an analogue of UNIT.City in the center of Astana,” Khmelnytsky wrote on his Facebook page.
He said starting this autumn UFuture would launch a project to create an eco-system and a university in Astana, following the example of UNIT.City. He added that this project is already known in Kazakhstan, as Kazakh students study at Kyiv’s UNIT Factory.
Khmelnytsky positively assessed the experience of creating an international technopark for IT start-ups at the Astana Hub and the Astana International Financial Center, where residents enjoy a preferential tax regime, British law and an independent court of British judges. UFuture’s press service told the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency that it would be possible to speak about details of the possible participation of the investment group in the Kazakhstan project after the project was prepared.
As earlier reported, UFuture is situated on 25 hectares of land at Kyiv’s motorcycle plant where it is developing the UNIT.City innovation park. The “anchors” of the project are programming factory UNIT Factor created in spring 2016 under partnership with French School 42, and the Technology Companies’ Development Center (TCDC). Khmelnytsky has already announced plans to create similar projects in Lviv and Kharkiv.
UFuture Investment Group, headquartered in Brussels, was established in the autumn of 2017 and unites Khmelnytsky’s business projects. The group includes UDP Renewables, the Bila Tserkva Industrial Park, the innovation parks UNIT.City and LvivTech.City.
