Page 58 - UKRRptNov18

SkyUp starting its operations and will get regular routes by the end of the year," Reuters quoted Omelyan as saying. "And I hope also by the end of this year, we will have another domestic company established in Kherson in south Ukraine."
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will allocate a €150mn loan for a project to modernise the infrastructure of Ukraine's state railway monopoly Ukrzaliznytsia, according to a statement published by the media office of the nation's President Petro Poroshenko on October 17. The funding will be used to build a second rail track, electrification and modernisation of alarm and communication systems on the Doliynska-Mykolaiv-Kolosivka route. The total cost of the project is about €300mn and will be co-financed by a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the statement reads. Earlier, the EBRD's board of directors approved a $150mn loan tranche for Ukrzaliznytsia . The loan will allow the company to purchase about 6,500 gondola cars at a total value of $260mn. Among the preconditions for the loan are the start of work of the company’s new supervisory board, approval of an action plan on corporate governance and deregulation of railcar rent component. The loan will be provided on market conditions, without state guarantees. Ukrzaliznytsia is currently in a midst of a large scale modernisation programme that is designed to improve communications and transport links in the country that should act as an economic multiplier when completed.
Ukrainian ports fulfilling financial plan for 2018 by 120%. Ukraine's Deputy Infrastructure Minister Yuriy Lavrenyuk says Ukraine's ports are fulfilling the financial plan for 2018 by 120%. "There are no failures in the ports' financial activity. Only the ports of Ust-Dunaisk and Skadovsk have a problem, which has existed for decades. In particular, the Skadovsk port's property has been seized [under a court ruling] for 10 years. Now we are trying to bring private investment in it, because the state is unable to finance them. All other Ukrainian ports are outperforming the financial plan for this year by 20%," he said during a traditional Q&A session in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, on October 5. According to Lavrenyuk, the creation of maritime administrations is international practice. "There are no state-owned stevedores in any European country. They are only private ones. The state must deepen the water area and support the berths. The Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority [USPA] was created for this purpose," the official added.
The doubling of air terminal capacity at Kyiv Sikorsky should be completed by May , without interruption in service and in time for next summer’s travel season. Through September, traffic at Kyiv’s right bank airport is up by 57%. Denys Kostrzhevsky, chairman of the airport’s board, predicts 25-30% growth next year. Vasyl Khmelnytsky, partner of Kostrzhevsky in Master-Avia, the airport management company, predicts the $22mn terminal expansion to 1,500 passengers an hour will pay for itself by 2026. Next up, he told reporters, is construction of a budget hotel at the airport, which is 7 km from the city centre.
A new Ukrainian airline flying international routes is to be set up in Kherson by the end of this year , Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan tells Reuters in London in a story headlined: “Ukraine seeks to bring in more airlines, sell airport contracts.” Serving Kherson and neighboring Mykolaiv, Kherson International Airport also is the closest airport to Crimea, a region only served by flights to Russia. To further boost regional air traffic, Omelyan also
58 UKRAINE Country Report November 2018 www.intellinews.com