Ukraine’s national road agency Ukravtodor and US engineering group Bechtel have signed a memorandum of understanding for building a bypass around the capital city Kiev.
National media reported that Oleksandr Kubrakov, minister of infrastructure, made the announcement, citing the memorandum as part of the government’s major push for infrastructure investment. This project provides for construction of 150km bypass and design plans are well underway, including land acquisition.
Last December, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced a €450 million loan to Ukravtodor. The EBRD noted that the money would help rehabilitate the M05 Kyiv-Odessa road and construction of Lviv bypass. Both are part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) and of strategic importance for Ukraine’s domestic and international connectivity, in particular with the European Union.
The bank’s financing is also combined with procurement and anti-corruption reform within the government and infrastructure sector. “The government of Ukraine is committing to enhance Ukravtodor’s procurement system and to strengthen its internal controls, policies and procedures to prevent bribery and corruption,” the EBRD said in a statement.
Ukravtodor initiated the anti-corruption programme with the EBRD earlier in 2020, as the total length of rehabilitated roads saw record levels.
The EBRD financing for Ukravtodor consists of three tranches. Tranches I and III totalling €290 million support the rehabilitation of 275km of the M05 Kiev-Odessa road, connecting the capital Kiev and Black Sea ports. The highway is part of TEN-T Corridor IX, a critical road link connecting northern and southern Europe.
Meanwhile, the €160 million Tranche II is financing construction of a 24km northern section of the circular bypass around Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine. The city has four international highways passing through it, two of which are part of TEN-T Corridors III (Brussels-Kiev) and V (Venice-Kiev).
In addition, EBRD funds are helping introduce systems to manage the impact of overweight vehicles.
