In recent weeks, we have been observing the culmination of information attacks on Ukravtodor
This is not the first time that a road agency has been the center of a planned media attack, but for the first time it has something to answer for.
This year, Ukravtodor has set itself a truly ambitious task: to repair and build more than 4,000 km of roads of national importance.
Right now, we are watching road works continue on 2,600 km, and construction has finally begun on the most famous Ukrainian long-term construction project, the Zaporizhzhia Bridge. Next up are the Kremenchuk and Mykolaiv bridges.
Not everyone shares this optimism. Especially the road mafia, with which the new Ukravtodor team, led by Oleksandr Kubrakov, has entered into an open fight.
Custom materials, videos, and investigations are methods by which part of the market is trying to influence the reboot of the road management system in Ukraine.
What are their accusations? They say that Ukravtodor attracts large road companies to large infrastructure projects.
I have a question – who else should perform such tasks? One-day companies that, with a statutory fund of 1,000 UAH, won tenders for tens and hundreds of millions of UAH?
Did the contractors who repaired roads in small sections extort money from the state, and now we have obvious defects on the roads after two winters?
I think that the practice of the last 30 years clearly demonstrates the fact that previous road strategies do not work.
While the road mafia is directing resources and forces to remove Oleksandr Kubrakov, his team is building a risk management system, building fair rules of the game for all market players.
The state should not serve business interests. And here we must support Ukravtodor.
My colleagues from the same party and I sent an appeal to the SBU to pay attention to the pressure currently being exerted on the road agency and to take control of the evidentiary materials of the head of the road agency.
We must protect the implementation of the Great Road Construction.
The President’s 5-year program is the renewal of 24,000 km of state roads and more than 1,000 bridges. In order for this program to be implemented, the Verkhovna Rada must support a number of legislative initiatives.
First, this is Bill No. 2680. This is a bureaucratic stick in the process of deploying the Great Road Construction.
In short, now for the low-level road works, in order to start the construction process, you have to wait for a permit to perform work from the State Road Construction Agency. Sometimes this process drags on for months.
And this despite the fact that there is already project documentation, a tender winner, and state funding.
The draft law solves this problem and proposes:
— to abolish the need to obtain a permit for the performance of construction work on the reconstruction and overhaul of highways and to introduce the right to perform the specified construction work on the basis of a notification of the start of construction work;
— to clarify the definition of the term “construction” and harmonize the provisions in a number of legislative acts.
In conclusion, the bureaucratic pressure at the start of road works is actually reduced, and in the conditions of the limited framework of the construction season, this is a chance to manage to do more in one year.
Secondly, this is draft law No. 2234. It is about the liberalization of the pricing system in the road industry.
Why is this important? The industry operates under the Soviet pricing system, which creates an additional bureaucratic burden on business and generates corruption risks.
There is overregulation, which blocks access to the Ukrainian market for international business.
What do we lose in this way? First, we pay more for road services, because we lose the potential for competition.
Second, a rigid and structured framework does not allow for the normal launch of business processes – it blocks any initiatives by private companies to introduce the latest technologies.
The draft law finally allows the state to order specific kilometers of roads, and not each road component separately, as was the case before. This gives the contractor more freedom of action and more chances to receive high-quality road services for the state.
Thirdly, these are bills No. 3509 and No. 3510. Their main task is to finally attract the last part of funding for the implementation of the 2020 road plans.
The good news is that the bills have already been adopted. In this way, the deputies openly demonstrate their support for the infrastructure changes that were launched by the Ukravtodor team this year.
ARSENIY PUSHKARENKO, People’s Deputy of Ukraine of the 9th convocation, Servant of the People party
