Ukravtodor presents road map for mega projects until 2025

Head of the Ukravtodor Automobile Road Agency Oleksandr Kubrakov has presented a road map for mega projects until 2025 thanks to the success of the Great Construction program, initiated by the Ukrainian president in 2020.

For the first time in the county's history, Ukravtodor can afford to plan its work for years to come, Fakty.ICTV wrote on December 17.

Read alsoUkraine interested in transport and investment cooperation with U.S.In particular, Ukravtodor repaired 3,900 km of motorways of state importance in the 11 months of 2020 from the planned 4,000 km. Kubrakov also announced plans for 2021 to overhaul another 6,800 km of roads.

"The program will be sufficiently funded, as the result and quality of road works have already become obvious to everyone. Thus, it is logical that Kubrakov's agency started thinking about developing a longer-term plan. In particular, he presented a road map for so-called mega projects until 2025," the publication said.

According to the document, Ukraine expects US$2 billion in investment in repairs to 1,400 km of pilot road sections along key routes, which has already been agreed by the parties involved.

Also, by 2022, Ukravtodor plans to repair roads leading to border crossings. According to the mega projects plan, 600 km of roads in 11 frontier areas will be upgraded with a budget of UAH 12.6 billion (US$452.9 million), which also covers the construction of 30 new checkpoints.

Read alsoEBRD to provide loans for road construction in UkraineBy 2025, Ukravtodor plans to build 2,900 km of cement and concrete roads. The priority routes will be the following: M-29 between the city of Kharkiv and the town of Pereschepyne (180 km), R-55 between the city of Odesa and the town of Novyi Buh (135 km), and N-08 between the town of Boryspil and the city of Mariupol (95 km in Dnipropetrovsk region).

This year, 82 bridges have been repaired, including such long construction projects as bridges in the city of Zaporizhia (one of them will open before the end of December). The agency also plans to overhaul another 1,385 bridges. By 2025, Ukravtodor plans to build the Kyiv bypass road, an approach road to Odesa seaport, and another large-scale facility, namely the Kremenchuk bridge. In total UAH 28.7 billion (US$1 billion) is required to implement these projects.

The total budget of mega projects can reach a record UAH 340 billion (US$12.2 billion).

"Ukraine is among the world's leaders in terms of infrastructure projects. Noteworthy, during the previous global crisis of 2008-2009, most countries used infrastructure projects with the highest cost multiplier as a main tool to stimulate domestic demand," experts from Ukraine Economic Outlook said.

Earlier, economists noted that if it were not for the Great Construction program, Ukraine's GDP would have declined by 11%.