Page 64 - UKRRptOct19

9.1.8 ​Tourism sector news
Nearly 75,000 tourists have visited Chornobyl this year​, reports the State Agency for Management of the Exclusion Zone. Boosted by the HBO series in the spring, the nuclear disaster site has received 74,671 visitors through the end of August. In August, almost 500 tourists a day traveled two hours north of Kyiv to visit the site. With interest high, the Agency is approving new water, air and land routes through Exclusion Zone.
As Ukrainian spending power returns, almost 500,000 people went on domestic cruises​ through July, up 169% compared to the same period, last year reports the centre for Transportation Strategies.
9.1.10 ​Renewables sector news
Ukraine’s sold its first state-owned small hydro plant​, auctioning off the 2MW Pervomaisk plant for $4.3mn, reports the State Property Fund. The buyer, EMZA LLC, offered $1.4mn more for the 90-year old plant than the next bidder. Norway’s AICE Hydro A.S. estimates Ukraine has 64 operating small scale hydro plants and 100 more that can be restored.
Installed renewable energy capacity should increase this year by 63%, to 5.4 gigawatts,​ according to the National Commission for Energy, Housing and Utilities Services Regulation. So far this year, 1.3 gigawatts has already been installed. The cost of green energy this year will be $1.1bn, according to the Commission.
9.1.11 ​Metallurgy & mining sector news
Ukraine to hike royalty rate for iron ore mining, change payment base​. Ukraine’s parliament plans to raise the rate for the mineral resource royalty for iron ore mining to 10% from 8%, according to a draft bill dated August 30 to update Ukraine’s tax code.
In the current version of the tax code, a 1.1 coefficient is applied to the iron ore mining royalty rate for 2019, and the draft does not appear to remove this provision. Therefore, if the updates to the tax code are approved, the rate for the remainder of 2019 will rise to 11% from the current 8.8%.
The bill also changes the base for the royalty payment from raw (before enrichment) ore to the price of final products (concentrate, pellets, sinter).
Industry associations Ukrmetallurgprom and Ukraine’s Metallurgist Federation wrote a letter to Ukraine’s president, prime minister, parliament and other government bodies expressing grave concerns over the plans to change royalty calculations, Interfax-Ukraine reported on September 5. The letter particularly characterizes the plan to change the payment base as unreasonable, comparing it to using revenues from gasoline sales as the payment base for oil extraction royalty payments, as cited by Interfax-Ukraine. The letter urges postponing consideration of the draft bill in parliament and arranging for in-depth discussion of its proposals, the news agency said.
The royalty rate hike and the change in payment base will impact Ukraine’s
64​ UKRAINE Country Report​ October 2019 ​ ​www.intellinews.com