Poor quality of Ukrainian roads unpleasantly impressed not only local drivers, but also experts from the World Economic Forum. As the result, Ukraine appeared among 10 worst out of 144 countries because of its poor quality of its roads in the Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013, published last year by the Davos Economic Forum organizers.
Quality of Ukrainian roads was rated at mere 2.3 points out of 7, hence Ukraine’s
137th place in the rating. There are only seven countries which
ranked worse: Gabon, Timor-Leste, Guinea, Mongolia, Romania, Haiti and Moldova.
In contrast, experts said, the best roads are in France, United Arab
Emirates and Singapore (6.5 points out of 7). Portugal, Oman, Switzerland,
Austria, Hong Kong, Finland and Germany also made it into top 10.
The disastrous state of Ukraine’s roads, always been a sore point for
the country’s ailing infrastructure, have become especially evident this
winter, many of the country’s highways have become literally plagued with
potholes. As Director General of Kyivavtodor Heorhiy Hlynsky said,
the state of roads was caused by bad weather conditions, quality of road
materials and intensity of traffic. According to Cabinet of Ministers
press office, as of Feb. 26, 91 percent
of nation’s main highways have been repaired.
While the authorities quite expectedly came up with a standard set of
excuses, such as poor weather, Ukraine’s State Financial Inspection found that
nearly Hr 225 million ($28 million) have been embezzled by corrupt officials at
various levels. “Due to the lack of proper control over the quality of repair and
construction, both from the regional road services and Ukravtodor, some
contractors did not perform the work under the project plans. These violations
lead to early destruction of the roadways,” the agency reported.
According to the report, poor
quality of roads is not the only one category, where Ukraine lags behind in
terms of competitiveness. For example, Ukraine was rated at 141 out of 144 when
it comes to protection of minority shareholders’ interests, or the efficiency
of its legal framework in settling disputes.
Kyiv Post staff writer
Kateryna Kapliuk can be reached at [email protected]
