Oleksandr Evgeniyovych Kryzhanivskyi is one of the most famous experts in the road industry, an expert in road design, a forensic expert, and a road safety auditor. He has 40 years of experience in the road industry, 14 of which he worked for Ukravtodor. He willingly shares his experience, trains new generations of road workers, teaching at advanced training courses. Oleksandr Evgeniyovych is also an expert of the National Expert Construction Alliance of Ukraine and one of the leading experts of the Win Experts group of companies.
We talk to him about the current state of the construction industry, its pain points, and prospects.
Oleksandr Yevgeniyovych, you are one of the most experienced and well-known experts in the road industry. You are well known to road workers throughout Ukraine. And cooperation with you is, in fact, a calling card and a strong point of the organization in which you work. How many such experts are there in Ukraine? And where are they being trained now?
Experts are primarily trained by themselves. It is impossible to train an expert even on the courses that are taught. These are people who already have a certain set of knowledge and experience, come to advanced training courses, and here they are given a little more knowledge. There are no more than 5-6 high-level road experts in Ukraine. Almost all of them are in Kyiv.
The top topic of the current government and the President of Ukraine is the program “Great Construction”, within the framework of which roads are mainly built and repaired. The ideologists of this program talk about its uniqueness and unprecedentedness. They say that they have never built like this in Ukraine before. In your opinion, is this construction really as “great” as they say?
As for roads, this construction is not as “big” as they say. There was even a phrase recently that we will repair and build a record 4 thousand kilometers of roads for Ukraine. And, for example, in the 90s, up to 18 thousand kilometers of roads were only overhauled in Ukraine per year. And this is without reconstructions and current repairs. And then the roads were really better. They were repaired on time, and the deadlines between overhauls were adhered to, and they were properly cared for, which is practically non-existent now.
Recently, there was such a thesis that we will “forget about pothole repairs”. But even European countries do not forget about such repairs. After all, the better the roads are maintained, the earlier the pothole repairs are done, the smaller these potholes will be, and the longer the road will last.
And if before we really didn’t have enough money, now we have enough, but, in my opinion, most of them are simply buried in the ground. They spend money as if it were for major repairs, but only do current average repairs.
Current average repairs are not designed by professional road workers, but by everyone in a row. I even had a project under consideration where the road was designed by an expert with a firefighter certificate, not a road worker. Secondly, these projects do not undergo an examination and, apparently, do not undergo normal surveys either.
And how are such projects allowed to be implemented?
The legislation does not require that projects for current medium repairs undergo an examination. Capital construction and major repairs are regulated by the Law “On the Fundamentals of Urban Planning”. Every step is prescribed there. Only a specialist with a certificate in engineering and construction design of roads has the right to design, he must have an appropriate class, depending on the class of road consequences. And there are a number of other requirements. There are no such requirements for current medium repairs. A person went out onto the road, looked, and something is sculpting there… In terms of cost, it is almost the same as major repairs, but in terms of quality… If after a major repair the road is operated for 10-15 years, then after the current one it needs to be repaired after 3-4 years. So if such a road lasts for 3-4 years, that will be very good.
In Ukraine, huge amounts of money are spent on roads. This year, the costs of repair and construction make up 10% of the country’s budget. Part of the funds planned to combat the coronavirus epidemic went there. So why, with such spending on roads, do they go down with the snow?
I have already mentioned one reason. Because most of the time, when the government says that we have repaired 2-2.5 thousand kilometers of roads, in fact only 200-300 kilometers were repaired. And everything else was just under that current average repair. And there is no need to talk about quality in that case.
The average cost of new construction of 1 kilometer of a first-category asphalt-concrete road in Ukraine in 2020 is UAH 170.6 million. This is $6 million. Is this a lot or a little?
The question of why our roads are so expensive has been discussed for a long time, including at the level of the Ministry of Regional Development (ed. – Ministry of Community and Territories Development of Ukraine), and I am a member of the Scientific and Technical Council of the Ministry of Regional Development. But I will say that compared to other countries, our roads are not expensive. And recently, when meetings were held, they started asking, why are our roads so cheap?
6 million dollars per kilometer is the average cost. There are roads that can pass in difficult geological conditions, there may be difficult terrain, etc. But if we take the average, then 6 million dollars per kilometer is the optimal cost. Although, I repeat, it all depends on the conditions.
The road industry is considered one of the most corrupt sectors. Do you agree with this opinion? What is the most stolen from? And what tools do you see to overcome corruption?
First, what they say is one thing, but the fact that only the court can admit guilt is another matter. I am repeatedly asked such questions. Show me where the court has proven that a person steals? We steal in all industries. And in ordinary construction. Wherever we do not take part, we can say that there is corruption.
But, first of all, there must be professional managers, which we have not observed since at least 2014. Since then, it seems that 6 or 7 heads of Ukravtodor have changed, and there has not been a single road worker there. There was a heat engineer, there was a graduate of an aviation institute, now a person from the IT sphere has come. And none of them has anything to do with roads. Another thing is, if a person is a good manager, and he has a team of professionals, then there are no questions. But if the first manager does not understand what roads are, and hires the same deputies, then I do not undertake to talk about the further fate of the industry.
There is only one way to overcome corruption – to follow the laws. They say that our laws are bad. No, our laws are good. Another issue is that no one wants to follow them. And there is also no punishment for crimes. These are the two main reasons why we cannot overcome corruption.
The issue of road safety is very relevant. In 2019, accidents claimed the lives of 3.5 thousand Ukrainians and caused injuries to 34.6 thousand. Take the infamous Staroobukhiv highway, where terrible car accidents occur almost every month, taking the lives of entire families. And the human factor is not the main reason. Surely the quality of the roads is also to blame for something? How should the safest roads be designed?
If we talk about the Staroobukhivska road, then it is a specific road in general. First, all the parameters and norms are violated there, first of all the width of the traffic lanes. There are 4 traffic lanes, there are no restrictions in settlements, and most people here drive far from 90 kilometers. And when they go towards each other and an accident happens, the total speed there is huge.
The trouble is that if we mainly do current average repairs. And there they do not pay any attention to traffic safety at all. That is, the main task of these current average repairs is to ensure at least the quality of the journey. But what can I say! Some of our capital repair projects that come to my attention, sometimes, at the request of the customer, do not even provide for sidewalks. This is a direct violation of the norms.
I return such projects, or issue negative conclusions. Because when we improve the condition of the roadway itself, speeds immediately increase. But if there is nowhere for pedestrians to go, they go onto the road. If the road is covered with holes, then the car will not accelerate very much, but if it is smooth, then the speed increases significantly. In this case, the consequences of a road accident become much more serious.
This desire to quickly report that we have built, we have repaired a record number of roads, but what quality is another question, this is what leads to such consequences.
But are there any roads in Ukraine that are well designed from a safety perspective?
As a rule, these are roads built with credit funds. There, banks that lend money to construction also order an audit of roads for their compliance with European safety standards. Therefore, the standards are met there, and the roads are much safer.
As an example of safe roads, I can name the Novoobukhiv highway. I participated in the development of working documentation for this road. It is designed to be as safe as possible, although there are also dangerous sections. In some places there should have been interchanges, but in order to save money, these interchanges did not appear. This is a violation of the Law “On Road Traffic”, where Article 22 prohibits reducing capital investments due to road safety measures.
Nevertheless, accidents on this highway occur much less frequently, and almost all of them are caused by road users themselves.
Recently, roads that were previously under the control of Ukravtodor were transferred to the regional administrations. Has it gotten better or worse?
In fact, they transferred responsibility for the roads. Because all the local roads were brought to such a state that it is difficult to call them roads, they are more like directions. It all depends on who will deal with it. I am again returning to the leadership that we have. We are trying to allocate money where it will return, that is, to those objects that are profitable. The road does not bring profit. The road reduces losses. And this is precisely what no one pays attention to and officials are of little interest in high-quality roads.
As part of the national program “Great Construction”, cement-concrete roads are also being built. They say that they are more durable. Why are so few of them being built then? Do you see the future of the road industry in such roads?
It is difficult to say here. Currently, Ukraine has about 2.5 thousand km. of cement-concrete roads for public use out of a total of 170 thousand km.
Both types of roads have the right to life. Which of them is more durable? The question is simple. There must be maintenance. If the road is maintained, of course, the cement-concrete road will be more durable. It will not be affected by climatic factors.
Its disadvantage is that it is advisable not to use anti-icing materials on it in the first 2 years. These materials are mainly salt, and salt has a bad effect on fresh concrete, it begins to peel off. And concrete cannot be repaired, unlike asphalt concrete.
In addition, special equipment is needed to maintain such roads, and we do not have it. If the cement-concrete road is well maintained (and there is one serious issue there – expansion joints), then it will last forever. The maintenance intervals for such roads are 22-25 years, while for asphalt concrete roads it is 10-12 years.
You recently started working as a forensic expert. What new things have you discovered in this role that you didn’t know before?
There are some points, but for the most part I have been convinced that things are the same everywhere, including in forensic examination.
What cases have you already had to consider as a forensic expert?
One case is an unfounded accusation because another forensic expert incorrectly took samples when he wanted to prove that they were stolen during the construction of the road. The second case also concerned violations during the construction of the road, and they began to look for them two years after the road was put into operation. And if more than six months have passed, then nothing can be proven there.
And one more thing. Our standards, for example, do not specify at what time of year samples can be taken. And in this case, samples were taken in January. It is undesirable to do this, although there is no such requirement anywhere. If samples are taken to determine the characteristics of the thickness of asphalt concrete no earlier than after 24 hours and no later than after six months, then unfortunately nothing is said about the seasons.
In this case, samples were taken in the winter and it was determined that some characteristics did not meet the standards. But I can say from experience that this can be the case, because in winter, moisture still gets into the asphalt concrete, freezes there and expands the pores. And here, the porosity of the asphalt concrete exceeded the standards.
We will soon be celebrating Road Worker’s Day. What would you like to wish everyone involved in this holiday?
I would like to wish road workers that they finally have professional leadership that will understand what they are doing and where they need to go, and not just fulfill the requirements of the next government program. We used to have this: we will deliver by November 7, we will deliver by the anniversary of the revolution… And now it is the same – to show that we are doing something.
And our big problem is that in fact, since 2014, people who did not understand it came to power in the road industry. They were in positions for six months. But is it possible to master a completely new industry for yourself in six months?
Even a person with experience is unlikely to understand all the problems in six months. Since 2001, it seems, 19 heads of Ukravtodor have changed. This is not politics, this is not a state-sponsored approach. Find a specialist, and a specialist not from the party, but a person who knows the road industry well. This should not be a political position.
I would like the authorities to pay great attention to road maintenance. Because let’s take, for example, a situation when you take a new car from the dealership. If you don’t take care of it, then in 2-3 years we will have a tin can on the road, not a car. The same goes for roads. Everything needs maintenance!
And we remind you that Oleksandr Kryzhanivsky is one of the leading experts of the Win Experts group of companies. If you need professional forensic expertise, audit, expertise of project documentation for road works, contact us, and our experts will help you, because Win Experts is an expertise that wins!
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The conversation was led by Antonina Domikan
