Poroshenko has enacted a law to allocate budget funds to rebuild schools and hospitals in Donbas / Photo from UNIAN
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed a law of Ukraine on amendments to the Budget Code to allocate over UAH 3 billion, or $120 million, from the national budget to rebuild hospitals, schools and kindergartens in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, according to the presidential press service.
"We've done our best to allocate over UAH 3 billion that will now be funneled into the local budgets of Donetsk and Luhansk regions for the prompt financing of war-stricken Donbas," Poroshenko said during a teleconference with the local authorities of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, who gathered in the town of Kramatorsk in Donetsk region.
The draft law on amendments to Subparagraph 24 of Chapter VI "Transitional Provisions" of the Budget Code of Ukraine was passed by the Verkhovna Rada early in June.
Poroshenko says the financing will be enough to repair 21 hub schools, rebuild 23 out-patient health centers, and 29 kindergartens. Considerable attention will be paid to the water supply and drainage facilities, repairs to bridges and roads. About 60 kilometers of roads should be repaired in Luhansk region alone. What is more, Luhansk region's music and drama theatre will be rebuilt.
Read alsoSchoolchildren in Ukrainian Donbas shown Russian propaganda movieThe president said Russian aggression had severely affected Ukraine: many Ukrainian soldiers and civilians were killed; while buildings, schools, hospitals, kindergartens and infrastructure facilities were damaged or ruined. "Every citizen who has come through such a disaster as occupation with daily shelling, loss of close people and temporary inability to come back home should see that the state cares about him or her," Poroshenko said.
Read alsoGazprom demands payment from Ukraine for $600 mln worth of gas supplied to occupied Donbas"All funds collected for Donbas will be controlled. For this end, the ProZorro electronic public procurement system will be used," he added. The president said he was confident that new approaches to the terms and efficient use of money would be demonstrated.
He also recalled the plans on the establishment of the Fund of International Partners of Ukraine, which will allow the attraction of additional financial resources to rebuild Donbas.
In their turn, Head of Donetsk Military-Civilian Administration Pavlo Zhebrivsky and Head of Luhansk Military-Civilian Administration Yuriy Harbuz expressed gratitude for the support.
According to Harbuz, the allocation of more than UAH 3 billion for the restoration of Donbas was a very important decision for the region. According to him, over 7,000 facilities have been damaged by hostilities in Donbas and the losses are estimated at UAH 8.2 billion.