The plant will produce high-quality materials for road construction.
An asphalt and concrete plant with a record high capacity was opened by Avtomagistral-Yug company in Kharkiv region on April 24.
"Avtomagistral-Yug is a leader, and it's not the first enterprise the company has opened in the region," CEO of the Ukravtodor Automobile Road Agency Slawomir Nowak said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
According to him, EUR 2.5 million was invested in the plant.
"We need dozens of such plants all over Ukraine. The government plans to allocate UAH 300 billion [US$11.5 billion] for a road development program in 2018-2022. We will launch the [road] construction campaign step by step with the help of such plants," Nowak said.
According to the company's representatives, the plant has a record-high capacity and will produce high-quality materials.
"We are launching the 14th own asphalt and concrete plant in Ukraine and the fifth factory of the Italian company Marini Fayat Group. This company is the leader in the production of asphalt-concrete plants in Europe. Its products are considered to be among the best ones. The new production base will allow us to reinforce our leading positions in the region and build roads using the most advanced technologies and the best materials," CEO of Avtomagistral-Yug Mykola Tymofeyev said.
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"Thanks to the construction of the new plant, we will be able to produce up to 320 tonnes of asphalt every hour, that is more than 3,500 tonnes per shift, which is today a record high indicator for similar enterprises. Our major project is the Kharkiv-Okhtyrka highway. The products will be also supplied to the Kyiv-Kharkiv-Dovzhansk and Kharkiv-Vovchansk highways," he said.
According to him, the company in 2017 repaired 500 kilometers of highways. This year, it plans to increase this figure to 860 kilometers.
"If last year we had 10 production bases, now we have already 17 such bases. The number of automotive equipment has grown from 500 to 700 units. We plan to expand the fleet this year to 1,000 units. The number of employees increased to 2,500 people. We are developing dynamically. We not only buy new equipment, we also hire the best Ukrainian specialists. A chief engineer's salary is as high as UAH 35,000 (almost EUR 1,100)," the CEO said.
Kharkiv Regional State Administration says the launch of the new plant is a guarantee that the roads in the region will be properly built and repaired, which will make them serve longer.
"The quality of the work of Avtomagistral is very high. We had no complaints about their performance last year. Works on the Chuhuiv-Kupiansk-Milove, Chuhuiv-Izium, Kharkiv-Okhtyrka motorways were of high quality and were on time. We hope the quality of the roads with products of this new plant will be ideal. The launch of the plant is a milestone for the region. It is a signal that the situation with roads will be changing for the better," First Deputy Governor of Kharkiv Yevhen Shakhnenko said.
Earlier, Avtomagistral-Yug stated it was actively looking for European partners to participate in a Lviv-Krakovets highway concession contest.