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will be closed for eight months in 2023 for runway reconstruction, Denis Kostrzhevsky, head of Master-Avia, the airport management company, told reporters.
● Trains
Ukrzaliznytsia is “bankrupt,” Zelenskiy said, because of a burden of debt taken out at high interest rates. “Ukrzaliznytsia has a loan debt of hundreds ofmns of dollars,” he told reporters. “They took loans of 100, 200, 300mn dollars at 10-12%.” By contrast, Naftogaz bonds currently have 7-8% yields.
Ukrzaliznytsia plans to resume international train service next month,
starting with Austria, Hungary and Poland, Ivan Yuryk, the state railroad’s acting CEO, says, according to UZ’s press office. Confirmed are Kyiv-Vienna trains and trains from Zakarpattia to Hungary, crossing at the Chop- Záhony bridge. UZ is in talks with Poland to restore Intercity service.
In a €880mn deal, Alstom is to supply 130 electric locomotives to Ukrzaliznytsia. France is financing 85% of the sale, through a €350 French Treasury loan and €400mn in loan guarantees from BPI Assurance Export. French authorities raised the level of localization – value added inside Ukraine – from 15% in March, to 35% in the final contract. President Zelenskiy said after the signing: “Big money will be invested.”
● Ships
With world demand strong for iron ore, grain and coal, bulk cargo shipping rates have hit 11-year highs, Interfax-Ukraine reports, citing the Baltic Dry Freight Cost Index. In the last month, some rates have jumped by 50%%. At Ukraine’s ports, bulk exports account for about 75% of cargo volumes.
Dnipro River transportation is off to a strong start this year, increasing by 62% to 3.1mn tons during the first four months of this year, compared to January-April last year. Aided by a longer season, more vessels, and government incentives to reduce trucks, the number of barge trips doubled, to 3,465 so far this year. The cargo breakdown is: construction materials – 63%; grain – 26%; and metals – 11%. Last year, Dnipro cargo fell by 5%, to 11.25mn tons.
● Cars
This summer, a record 532 km of roads are being rebuilt in government-controlled Donbas – 156 km in Donetsk and 376 km in Luhansk, Infrastructure Minister Alexander Kubrakov writes on his NV blog. “A number of the most important routes for the East have already been renewed -- and we are not planning to stop,” writes Kubrakov who ran Ukravtodor, the state highway agency, until last week.
9.1.4 Construction & Real estate sector news
Construction companies reported positive expectations for the first time since September 2019 on the back of a seasonal rebound in activity and rising investment demand for housing construction. The sector’s index finally
61 UKRAINE Country Report XXXX 2018 www.intellinews.com