Page 60 - UKRRptMay21

the EBRD and other international financial institutions to secure low interest financing. By replacing trucks on the highways, river transportation bonds and loans often are considered ‘green.’
Financing for Qatar’s largest investment in Ukraine – Qterminals’ Olvia concession – was brought forward by another meeting in Doha. QTerminals is now on track to fulfill the $140mn investment contract that it signed in August 2020.
Dnipro River shipping traffic in the first quarter increased by 66%, over the first quarter of 2020, reported the Sea Ports Administration. Of the 1.8mn tons, the cargoes were: construction materials +79% to 1mn tons; grain + 33% to 587,000 tons; and metals +280% to 171,000 tons. The winter season is characterized by short haul barge trips. On March 10, the full river opened to shipping, with all locks working between Nova Kakhovka and the Kyiv Sea.
● Cars
Roads leading to all five of Ukraine’s border crossings with Hungary are to be repaired. Talks are ongoing regarding an agreement to build a sixth crossing, at Dyida, and to repair the highway bridge over the Tisza River at the busiest crossing – Chop-Zahony. Last month, at the first meeting of the Ukrainian-Hungarian Joint Commission on Border Traffic Control they discussed: “increasing capacity, reducing queues, modernization of existing and construction of new crossing points, as well as prospects for the introduction of joint border control on the Ukrainian-Hungarian border,” wrote Lyubov Nepop, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Hungary on Facebook.
By this time next year, work should start on Ukraine’s first highway built by a private construction company as a concession, Alexander Kubrakov, head of Ukravtodor, told the Transport Infrastructure Forum. There will be two types of concession: road repair and building a road from scratch. The head of the highway agency said the Rada is preparing bills to change the Budget Code. He predicted: “Construction work on these projects will begin at the end of the year - the beginning of the next one.”
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved expenditure of $350mn to build 10 new customs checkpoints and to rebuild 25 old ones on the Polish boarder, the government portal has reported. Much of the funds originate from a Polish government loan to Ukraine to build border crossings with Poland. More than half of the loan will be used to buy and install video surveillance equipment, weighing and scanning systems. The Finance Ministry wrote that the goal is “the latest technical equipment, which minimizes the human factor in the inspection, and hence corruption risks.”
To roll out the welcome mat to EU drivers, Ukravtodor is repairing and upgrading 250 km of roads to border checkpoints this summer, the highway agency reported on Facebook. “Unfortunately, having crossed the borders of our state, it is expected that you meet a pothole,” Ukravtodor wrote. Almost all the work this year is being undertaken in Zakarpattia, repairing road connections to Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. Last year, 150 km of border roads were repaired. By 2023, the plan is to repair 600 km.
60 UKRAINE Country Report May 2021 www.intellinews.com