Page 64 - UKRRptApr21

via the liberalization and unification of cargo rates, the company stated. Currently, cargo rates are regulated and differentiated depending on the type of cargo. In other news related to Ukrainian Railways, Interfax-Ukraine reported on March 16, referring to its sources, that the company’s supervisory board might consider the dismissal of CEO Volodymyr Zhmak. According to the source, some of the board members “do not like Zhmak’s activity on the restructuring of the company.” The company’s press service confirmed the circulation of such information in a comment to radiosvoboda.org news site, adding that there are no objective reasons for the dismissal “based on all the indicators” of the company’s activity.
Ukrainian Railways workers are planning a large-scale strike on March 31
to protest low wages and poor working conditions during the global pandemic, Interfax-Ukraine reported citing recent union announcements. The warning was announced by the trade union of railway workers and transport builders of Ukraine. Whether there will be a continuation depends on its results. “In 2019-2020, we, contrary to the terms the collective agreement, did not raise our salaries., " said protest leader Alexander Skiba.
Ukrainian Railways plans to introduce 30 new summer routes for 2021,
and has announced plans to connect themn-plus cities Kharkiv - Dnipro and Kharkiv - Odessa , while resuming the connection Kryvyi Rih – Odesa route. "We take all these plans not from our heads, but from the existing proposals of public activists. Over the past months, we have received more than 450 requests to change the schedule and optimize routes," said the head of passenger transport Alexander Pertsovsky at a corporate presentation.
Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers signed off on the financial and business plans for the national rail operator, Ukrzaliznytsia, for 2021, at a meeting on March 31.
The plan assumes the company earns revenues of UAH93bn ($3.3bn) in 2021. That would lead to an estimated profit of circa UAH3.6bn that follows from a loss of UAH11.5bn in 2020.
The reform of the national rail company has come into focus in parallel to the state’s privatisation plans as it struggles to put its assets on a profitable footing.
Ukrzaliznytsia also plans to earn UAH1.5bn from the sale of scrap metal. The sale of non-core assets is expected to bring in another UAH1.9bn. The write-off of non-current assets will earn another UAH1bn.
The company plans to transfer UAH24.7bn in taxes and fees to the state and local budgets, Interfax Ukraine reports. Capital investment plan is UAH27bn. The volume of freight traffic is planned to increase by 1.7%, to 306.4mn tonnes.
The money earned will be spent on modernisation and the renewal of railway rolling stock -- modernization and overhaul of the existing fleet -- increasing the capacity of bottlenecks in the infrastructure, as well as funds will be used to repair and modernize tracks.
In particular, it is planned to purchase about 80 passenger cars,
64 UKRAINE Country Report April 2021 www.intellinews.com