Power China signed a memorandum of cooperation with regional officials to partner with Rivne International Airport into a major cargo hub in Ukraine. The Chinese construction company is heavily involved in Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. Rivne has the largest airport in northwest Ukraine.
The Rivne Ukraine cargo hub would be located 100 km east of the Polish border. Thus, it is seen as a potential international cargo hub serving Ukraine and Poland. But its airport infrastructure is lacking. It’s 2,626-meter long Soviet-era runway handled only 11,000 passengers last year, largely on SkyUp flights to Egypt.
Power China, a leading global engineering design company, is carrying out two major projects in Ukraine. It is building a 6-lane, 22 km highway bypass around Zhytomyr, complete with three interchanges and 10 bridges. In the south, the Beijing company is the engineering, procurement and construction partner of Norway’s NBT, building a 63 turbine, 250 MW wind power project in Syvash, Kherson Region.
Rail transport also essential
Deutsche Bahn, Europe’s largest rail company, is sending a delegation to Kyiv in the coming days, to discuss with Ukrzaliznytsia a strategic partnership, reports the Center for Transportation Strategies. Rail executives would be joined by executives from E.ON, the German electric power company, Dmitry Stratievsky, a former Bundestag deputy, writes on his Facebook page. With a partnership under discussion for three years, experts interviewed by CTS see upsides: using German technology to modernize Ukraine’s rail infrastructure; joint projects to better organize a movement of goods and passengers from Ukraine to the EU; and the development of transit freight.
Ukraine has focused on rebuilding its transport infrastructure as seen in several rail projects as well as the Rivne Ukraine cargo hub.
Privatization of Ukraine’s 3,000 state companies will be promoted at Davos by Dmitry Sennichenko, head of the State Property Fund. At the World Economic Forum, he is to speak on the topic “Ukraine is the Place of Europe’s Strength” and is to have bilateral meetings with foreign investors interested in Ukraine.
To help investors get more accurate and comprehensive information on state companies up for sale, the Properly Fund started running last week in test mode “virtual data rooms.” These document repositories are to be created for the largest of the 500 companies scheduled for sale this year.
