Page 63 - UKRRptSept19

law introducing green number plates for electric cars and protecting parking spaces with chargers for electric cars. With private companies installing chargers on highways, it is now possible to drive an electric car from Kyiv to Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro, and Kharkiv.
Sales of imported used cars totalled 274,200 through July, a five-fold increase over the first seven months of 2018. Now used imports account for three quarters all first time registrations. However, with consumer confidence returning, sales of new cars jumped 14% y/y in July, to 7,600, reports Ukravtoprom, the industry trade association. This is the biggest increase since the used car flood started with the cut in import duties three years ago.
Traffic accidents, sometimes a perverse indicator of economic activity, were up 6.4% during the first half of this year, to 73,145, reports the National Police. In another indicator of irrational economic exuberance, reckless driving is up, reports Motor Transport Insurance Bureau of Ukraine. The increases were: speeding +20%; dangerous maneuvers +22%; and drunk driving + 35%. Reflecting a surge of no-visa Ukrainian road tripping to the EU, the use of European road accident record forms was up 28%.
9.1.3 Transport sector news
● Planes
Zelenskiy promises to build a $115mn new runway and terminal for Dnipro, the nation’s laggard airport. A tender for the airport project is to be posted next week, according to the President’s website. “We will help you. We will allocate funds because we understand what the airport is for a ‘millionaire’ city,” he said on a visit Friday to Dnipro, referring to the city’s population. The airport is controlled by Igor Kolomoisky, a media backer of the president and owner of UIA. Despite anemic passenger numbers -- 149,000 for the first half of 2019 – Dnipro airport officials have refused to allow flights by Turkish Airlines and SkyUp, Ukraine’s discount airline.
Kherson airport officials discussed last week with Ryanair officials about Europe’s largest airline flying next summer to Kherson. With flights to Turkey, Egypt and Kyiv, Kherson’s air traffic increased last year by 42%, to 150,000 passengers. Last month, the airport agreed to buy $1mn worth of navigation equipment from France’s Thales. To modernize the terminal, regional officials are debating transferring the operation to a concession. Located only 100 km from Kalanchak crossing, airport officials see Russia- controlled Crimea as part of their passenger catchment area.
● Trains
Private Ukrainian companies already have a fleet of 2,500 of their own locomotives, writes Magistral, Ukrzaliznytsia’s in the house news site. About 1,500 of these are shunting locomotives, built for assembling freight trains in rail yards. About 1,000 are certified to make short runs on public tracks, typically to grain elevators. About one-third of UZ’s 3,566 locomotives are shunting locomotives. One-half of UZ’s locomotives, or 1,758, are long haul locomotives. The centre for Transportation Strategies estimates that half of the long haul locomotives are out of service, a figure disputed by UZ CEO Yevhen Kravtsov.
63 UKRAINE Country Report September 2019 www.intellinews.com