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mayors representing the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.
The U.S. is “deeply concerned at the ongoing leadership crisis at Naftogaz, including the September 8 resignations of the Naftogaz independent board members,” Department of State spokesman Ned Price told a press briefing on Sept. 9. “As Russian aggression and occupation continue, our strategic partner Ukraine does not need to have questions about its commitment to corporate governance being raised,” Price said, adding that the U.S. welcomes the Ukrainian government’s “active engagement to resolve this issue positively”. Recall, three independent members of Naftogaz (NAFTO) supervisory board decided to resign as they failed to find common ground with the government and the company’s CEO Vuriy Vitrenko.
9.2.3 Transport corporate news
Ukrzaliznytsia saw a 27% increase in passenger ridership helped UZ to pare its first half loss to $53 million, down from $330 million lost in the first half of 2020, according to results leaked to marlin.org.ua news site. Freight, the real revenue generator for the railroad, increased by 1.8% yoy. Despite the improvements, the Cabinet formed last week a ‘crisis management staff’ that, critics say, is designed to sideline the Supervisory Board.
Ukrzaliznytsia’s passenger traffic picking up. It carried 9.1 million passengers
in June-August 2021, which is 130% of what was recorded last summer and 70% of those figures in the summer of 2019. 7.4 million passengers were transported in night trains, 1.1 million passengers were carried in Intercity+ high-speed trains, and another 0.6 million passengers in regional trains.
Ukrzaliznytsia will update its fleet of freight cars. The start of a program to upgrade the fleet of Ukrzaliznytsia freight cars. Where UZ plans to build and upgrade more than 30,000 gondola cars and almost 15,000-grain trucks. The investment will lead to an increase in the number of new jobs and is estimated to cost UAH 20 bln in budgetary funds. The investment will see the average age of the infrastructure decrease from 23 to 7 years. According to the Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov, the current wear and tear of Ukrzaliznytsia's rolling stock is over 90%.
Ukrzaliznytsia agrees to pay some of the Debt to VR Global Partners L.P. In 2019, Ukrzaliznytsia's debts to PJSC Prominvestbank valued at $153.25 million were sold to VR Global Partners L.P. UZ stating that they are ready to pay only confirmed debt obligations and are not ready to allow double penalties (reports). "Ukrzaliznytsia also did not agree with the interest to be paid on the debt from 10 to 11%, however, 3% interest rate would be more accurate.
Despite having the largest underground metro network in Ukraine, Kyiv Metro losses hit a record high of UAH 1.2 billion According to the results of the first half of 2021, the losses were UAH 1.18 billion. The main reason for the financial freefall is the COVID pandemic. The number of passengers taking the Kyiv Metro has not fully recovered to previous levels. For the first six months of 2021, the Kyiv Metro received UAH 1.55 billion in revenue.
72 UKRAINE Country Report October 2021 www.intellinews.com