Page 63 - UKRRptOct21

The Cabinet of Ministers approved the creation of a crisis management team for the stabilization of Ukrainian Railways' (RAILUA) operations, the company reported on Sept. 9. The team, headed by Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, will include the acting CEO of Ukrainian Railways Oleksandr Kamyshin, deputy infrastructure, economy and finance ministers, and representatives of other central bodies and business associations. The team will convene its debut meeting on Sept. 16 to discuss the situation with the procurement of “critically important goods.” Ukrainian Railways has implemented its annual procurement plan by only 34%, and the poor provision of supplies threatens to interrupt rail transportation, the company reported, citing Kubrakov.
The first container train with cargo Ukrainian products sent to China.
Ukraine had previously received freight trains from China as part of the "One Belt - One Road" program. The President of the Ukraine Chamber of Commerce, Gennadiy Chizhikov, announced that the rail services with China reduced the cost of delivery of goods from China to Europe. "Ukraine was one of the first countries to support Chinese President Xi Jinping's One Belt, One Road initiative. Our unique geographical location - on the eastern border of the EU, on the way from Asia to Europe, as well as between the Black and Baltic Seas works in our favor
Ukrainian Railways (RAILUA) purchased at a special auction on Sept. 30 electricity from the state operator of nuclear power plants Energoatom at a discounted price, the company reported the same day. Namely, it purchased about 4.94 TWh of baseload electricity to be supplied by end-2022 at UAH 1,105 per MWh (USD 41.5/MWh). This is a significant discount to the price at which the company was purchasing electricity on the market in September (UAH 2,104/MWh), the company stated, claiming that the deal will allow it to save at least UAH 4 bln (USD 150 mln) in expenditures.
● Cars
The overwhelming majority of Ukrainians (82%) have noticed an improvement in the condition of roads and an increase in their repair over the past year, according to the results of a survey conducted by the Sociological Group Rating on September 10-13.
Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers approved the country’s 2022 draft budget
on September 15. Infrastructure spending is once again among the top spending priorities in the draft document as President Zelenskyy’s push for an historic road-building breakthrough continues.
The draft 2022 Ukrainian state budget includes more than USD 4.5 billion for road construction and repair work. The bulk of this will go towards funding Zelenskyy’s flagship Big Construction program, which aims to dramatically upgrade Ukraine’s national road and highway network.
The task facing Zelenskyy and his administration should not be underestimated. Roads form a key component of Ukraine’s infrastructure portfolio. Ukraine has an estimated 46,000 km of state
63 UKRAINE Country Report October 2021 www.intellinews.com