Photo from UNIAN
Director of the Ukrainian Infrastructure Ministry's motor transport and road strategic development department Roman Khmil announces that the European Union (EU) has allocated funds to implement a project for the creation of an interactive map of Ukrainian roads, which will include information about the state of road infrastructure and ongoing repairs.
"We have received funding for the creation of a Ukrainian roads geo-information system. We'd like to create an integrated system that will be useful to road builders, industry managers and the general public," Khmil wrote on Facebook, adding that the ministry will focus on implementing the task in the near future.
Answering a question from UNIAN, Khmil added that this was the EU's technical assistance worth UAH 300 million.
He noted that a number of similar pilot projects had previously been launched with the help of volunteers, but such systems had limited functionality.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the Infrastructure Ministry previously announced the launch of the World Bank-funded project that would help monitor the quality of road repairs. A company will be selected at a tender to provide independent quality control of road construction and repairs in Ukraine. The volume of financing of the first tender is estimated at $350,000.
According to the Ukravtodor national road agency's estimates, the annual need for financing road projects will reach at least UAH 60 billion. Over 90% of Ukrainian roads need an overhaul or reconstruction. The state budget for 2016 envisages a double increase in funding for the development and maintenance of roads in 2016, to UAH 6.57 billion, as compared with 2015.