If a nation’s economy is like its roads, Ukraine’s remains potholed and underperforming for its 42 million people, with 90 percent of the 169,500-kilometer network in critical condition.
But help is on the way.
Ukravtodor, Ukraine’s state road authority, is entering its busy construction and repair season in midMarch with renewed vigor and more money. The aim is not only to fix the roads, but make them a worthy part of an integrated European trade and logistics network.
Besides the usual corruption and mismanagement, Ukraine’s infrastructure has suffered greatly from Russia’s war in the eastern Donbas. In November 2014, a United Nations report found that 53 bridges, 45 road sections and parts of 190 railways were damaged in the early part of the war in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts.
The war and Russia’s seizure of Crimea also broke trade and transit links with the former Soviet Union. While Ukraine is scrambling to move West, with a free trade agreement with the European Union that took effect last year, crumbling highways are an obstacle to economic growth.
For 2018, the Ukrainian government has allotted $1.9 billion, or less than 2 percent of the country’ gross domestic product, to fix roads. Most of the money, $1.2 billion, will go to the newly established State Road Fund. The fund is meant to guarantee stable, long-term financing.
Additionally, responsibility for the road network has been decentralized. The majority of roads — 123,105 kilometers — were transferred to local authorities, along with funds and autonomy to decide which roads to repair. The main body, Ukravtodor, is left with 46,985 kilometers of roads of national and international importance. It also gets 60 percent of the State Road Fund.
Questions remain, however, about Ukravtodor’s capacity.
In December 2016, Ukravtodor was not able to take advantage of a $220 million loan offer from the World Bank. Ukravtodor director Slawomir Novak said that his agency needed time to evaluate its capacity to spend the money honestly and effectively.
But Nowak said that he welcomes a switch to European standards for road design and construction standards. The changes, however, are in the initial stages.
“Last year we began to carry out a program for renovation of Ukrainian roads and improving road safety through traffic circles, traffic islands, road signs, illuminated pedestrian crossings,” Novak told the Cabinet of Ministers on Feb. 12.
At the same government meeting, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said: “We need to change road construction norms — urgently. We need new projects and solutions for effective use of money.”
Another possible change is the Ministry of Infrastructure’s exploration of using more cement concrete pavement and less asphalt.
“It’s a good option because there are a lot of local producers. On the other hand, cement concrete roads require special equipment and it’s costly,” Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan said.
New roads
Ukravtodor plans to repair a few regional highways.
One of them is M-15 that connects Odesa ports with Reni, near the Moldovan border. Another ambitious project is Go Highway that will run from Odesa to the Polish city of Gdansk via the M-12 highway in Khmelnitsky Oblast.
There are plans for construction of toll roads. Considering that Ukraine has the lowest population density and car ownership rate in Europe, there are only three passages that may be potential options: Lviv — Krakovets, Kyiv — Bila Tserkva and the so-called “Double Kalinyvka” between two villages of the same name in Kyiv Oblast.
But parliament needs to pass enabling legislation first.
