You're reading: Proposed changes to law on seaports will not protect private investment in industry, says lawyer

The changes to the law on seaports proposed by MPs, will not be able to solve the problem of protecting private investment in the port industry, a lawyer of the south Ukrainian branch of the Arzinger law firm, Oleh Milchenko, has told Interfax-Ukraine.

He was commenting on bill No. 3239 registered in the parliament on September 13, the authors of which are MPs from the Party of Regions Vitaliy Barvynenko and Yuriy Kruk.

The lawyer said that during the port reform, lawmakers are continuing to propose new initiatives to improve the investment attractiveness of Ukrainian ports, but the effectiveness of such initiatives does not facilitate the improvement of the situation for investors.

“Earlier the state authorities repeatedly pointed out that the main form of investment activity in the ports would be concession. However, the current legislation does not allow to fully realize the potential of this mechanism as does not foresee the possibility for investors to acquire the right of ownership to the property they created within concession. Moreover, the question remains how current investors should behave if they want to become concessionaires. After all, they will have to participate in a concession tender under the same terms, despite the funds they have already invested in the development of the port industry,” he said.

To protect private investment, law No. 3239 proposes amendment to the law of Ukraine on the seaports of Ukraine, which, first of all, allow the current investors to get ports and terminals in concession without tenders and, secondly, privatize the port property created by private investors when performing concession activities.

“The initiative is certainly positive, but its implementation in the current form will supposedly create more problems for potential investors,” said Milchenko.