Investments in construction may be a chance to save the Ukrainian economy in crisis
In the light of recent events, the world was pleasantly surprised by the organization of the fight against the coronavirus in China. In particular, we are talking about the construction of two hospitals within 10 days.
For the most part, this story had a “wow effect” for Ukrainians, since in our realities such a thing is regarded as a real miracle. In fact, there is no miracle, because such urgent construction of objects is the expected result of the fact that the construction industry in this country is brilliantly developed.
Therefore, it is ready to support the country at any time. The construction industry has saved many countries in its time, because it is one of the “three pillars” on which a strong economy rests. The experience of countries that understood this and began to build, as well as how Ukraine should shift its emphasis in the issue of economic growth — further.
“The Great Depression” and rescue construction Residents of the United States use more than five trillion kilometers of expressways annually. According to some estimates, the cost of the entire transport infrastructure of the United States is more than two trillion dollars, or more than 13% of the cost of all productive assets of the state.
Since the early 2000s, road tolls have brought at least $100 billion to the US road fund budget every year, which is about two trillion 700 million hryvnias in hryvnias.
For comparison, the total revenues of the Ukrainian state budget in 2020 were previously estimated at about one trillion 200 million hryvnias. In addition, more than five trillion dollars of goods are transported on American roads every year, and every billion invested in the construction of transport infrastructure leads to the creation of more than 35 thousand jobs (in general, more than 300 thousand people are employed in the road construction sector in the USA).
And finally, from the figures, I will emphasize that every billion in investment in this infrastructure has prevented more than 1.5 thousand deaths and 50 thousand injuries, because high-quality roads significantly reduce the risk of road accidents, and every dollar of capital investment made over the past 40 years has helped save two dollars (at the expense of savings in other areas).
Agree that these numbers are pleasantly impressive. What is more surprising is that the development of transport infrastructure in the United States began precisely in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis called the “Great Depression”.
The then 32nd American President Franklin Roosevelt identified the construction sector as one of the locomotives that will drive economic growth, because it not only attracts investments that significantly improve the economic situation, but also reduces unemployment.
Of course, the emphasis was not only on this, but also on the development of the banking system and the agricultural sector, etc. But today we will focus on construction.
Two hospitals in 10 days A similar situation with construction is also in the already mentioned PRC, which over the 71 years of its existence has managed to consolidate its place as a powerful economic player on the world stage. After World War II, construction was also emphasized there.
True, large and medium-sized industrial enterprises. Later, when the economic situation began to improve significantly, “hands reached” and infrastructure. If you look carefully at the video showing the construction of two Chinese hospitals, Leishenshan and Huoshenshan (both with 2.5 thousand beds), during the outbreak of the coronavirus, you can see that about a thousand construction equipment and five thousand workers are working on the construction of the facilities there.
It is obvious that they had all these resources at that time not because they managed to organize them quickly. And simply because they were! Having gained impressions from the world experience, I turn my attention to the Ukrainian construction industry, which during the years of independence did not really show a special jump.
Our cities are drowning in long buildings, illegal buildings and broken roads. During every economic crisis, we never invested in the construction sector, but in vain. After all, the development of strategic areas is the key to economic growth.
Among the strategic ones, not only construction, but also medicine, culture, etc. (the financing of which is carried out, for the most part, according to the residual principle).
“Big Construction” as a Lifeline Over the past few months, I have been actively informing my friends on Facebook about the progress of the “Big Construction” program. We are talking about the construction of more than 100 schools, 100 kindergartens, 100 stadiums and 200 new hospital reception departments in 2020. In addition, the construction of 4,000 km of roads is planned, work has already begun on more than 300 facilities.
As a person who specializes in this field, I am trying to facilitate this process at the legislative level. Thus, with Bill No. 2680 on the optimization of road construction, I propose to cancel permits for the reconstruction and overhaul of roads regardless of the class of consequences.
This document was created so that competent players in the construction market have the opportunity to start work without first knocking down bureaucratic thresholds in an attempt to obtain permits. This is really important, because it is at the stage of obtaining permits that many people “drown” due to bribe demands.
In addition to the aforementioned bill No. 2680, No. 2698 was also registered on the implementation of Regulation 305 into our legal space. It is based on improving the quality of our construction products to the European level.
This is not only about improving the materials from which Ukrainians build infrastructure facilities and make repairs in their homes, but also about a mandatory requirement for the Ukraine-EU association. The active development of the country must continue without fail.
But, of course, in the current conditions, with compliance with all safety measures for workers in quarantine conditions. If we stop this process, we will face disappointing consequences that will fall on the shoulders of future generations.
I never tire of repeating that if there is not as much good in our reality as we would like, we must create it with our own hands. And if all the methods already used have not brought the expected positive effect, others should be used. I think our country is ready to finally qualitatively shift the emphasis a little, reviving long-abandoned industries.
OLENA SHULYAK
Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on the Organization of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning
