You're reading: Azarov orders Ukraine road repairs

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has instructed the government to focus on repairs of roads in Ukraine.

“We should focus our resources and efforts on immediate repairs of the most damaged areas,” he said at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on Wednesday.

The premier ordered Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Vilkul to control the organization of urgent repairs and preparations for scheduled overhauls of roads.

“You should, together with the Finance Ministry, consider the state of affairs in regions and as soon as possible help the districts where efforts of the local authorities are not enough,” the premier said.

At the same time, Azarov said that in January the State Agency of Automobile Roads of Ukraine (Ukravtodor) received UAH 412 million from the national budget, while it needs UAH 2 billion.

“That’s why we should accumulate all possible resources, not waste them, and search for local reserves,” he said.

Azarov added that Ukravtodor and the country’s regions have the potential to carry out repairs of road sectors that have been badly damaged during the winter.

“It is obvious that now the conditions for full overhauls of roads are unfavorable. But we should at least take care of dangerous segments and prepare for scheduled overhauls and start fulfilling them as soon as the weather conditions allow us to do this,” he said.

Azarov suggested that traffic could be optimized and schedules for the movement of heavy vehicles could be drawn up in order to keep Ukrainian roads as safe as possible. He said that a system to monitor road overloading should be introduced as soon as possible.