Skip to main content

Ukraine's pivotal plans

The authorities in the Ukraine are in discussions regarding financing for a major road project, as well as making plans for the country's first ever highway concession.
February 16, 2012 Read time: 3 mins
The authorities in the Ukraine are in discussions regarding financing for a major road project, as well as making plans for the country's first ever highway concession. The latter is of key importance for the country. Ukraine's State Road Adminstration, 2780 UkrAvTodor is opening the tender process for a 74.6km stretch of the Big Ring project, which will see the construction of a new ring road around capital Kiev. The project is being split into three major sections and in all, will measure 213km long and cost an estimated US$6.9 billion.

Amongst the major components are two bridges spanning the Dniper River and over the Desna River, structures that will measure 8.2km, 4.5km and 2km respectively. The aim of the project is to remove through-traffic from the centre of Kiev and to provide a key link in the highway connections between Asia and Europe.
At present some 11,000-62,000 vehicles/day use parts of the various sections that will become the ring road.

However traffic volumes are expected to grow once the link is constructed and could range from 100,000-170,000 vehicles/day according to UkrAvTodor's official estimates. The first phase of the project is from Kiev to the Znamianka Road and will run through Chernigv and Novi Yarolovychi. The second phase will connect the Kovel Road with Kiev, while the third phase will be from Kiev to Chernigiv.

Meanwhile the $450 million road project concerns the Kiev-Kharkov-Dovzhansky link and in particular, rebuilding of the stretch between Lubny and Poltava. UkrAvTodor, is in discussions with the 2332 World Bank for loans that would help finance the project.

Road construction is a major issue in the Ukraine and UkrAvTodor has previously said that its road budget for 2011 is only sufficient to cover basic maintenance and will not stretch to major highway upgrades or expansion of the country's 170,000km network. It is for this reason that the ring-road around capital Kiev is being offered on a concession basis for example. The country requires a road budget seven times the present sum, with around 90% of the Ukraine's roads in poor condition according to a previous statement by a senior UkrAvTodor executive.

Some $595 million was provided at the end of 2010 by the 1166 European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to UkrAvTodor under a 15 year loan agreement for improvements to roads around Kiev. Plans were also made for a similar sum for further work in the same area being provided by the 1054 European Investment Bank.

Consultant 2782 WSP has been working with UkrAvTodor on a road sector review and the development of a Road Management Reform Plan. The aim of this would help define a strategy for reform of road administration and management. WSP's team has identified and made recommendations on improving road financing for state and local roads, based on available and potential sources of revenue and the maintenance needs of the network.

Related Content

  • Poland's ambitious highway construction plans
    July 10, 2012
    The European football championships are among a number of things pushing Poland's ambitious highway building programme. Patrick Smith reports. Poland is planning to spend a colossal €4.57 billion on road projects in 2009, a 35% increase over the previous year. T
  • Serbia’s pan-European Corridor X is in the slow lane
    October 23, 2017
    It’s been slow progress on Serbia’s Corridor X project. Gordon Feller reports. Back in the early 2000’s, the European Union undertook an ambitious programme to link the main cities of its south-eastern region. This involved connecting five key seaports – the Greek cities of Patras, Igoumenitsa, Piraeus and Thessaloniki as well as Romania’s Black Sea city of Constanta. Initially the plan involved two motorways across Greece. The first was a new 780km route including a branch to Ormenio on Greece’s north-eas
  • New US$200 million ring road to be built in Belarus capital Minsk
    May 23, 2014
    Minsk is to benefit from a new ring road that will cut city congestion - Eugene Gerden reports The government of Belarus is investing more than US$200 million in the building of a new ring road around the country’s capital Minsk, in accordance with a government decree. Implementation of the project is taking place as part of the existing large-scale state road building programme in the country until 2017, with the total cost estimated at US$5 billion. The new road will measure some 85km long and will feat
  • Russia new programme for developing high-speed roads
    January 14, 2019
    Russia has approved a new state programme for the development of its high-speed road network – Eugene Gerden reports The Russian government has officially approved a new state programme, which is aimed at developing the federal high-speed road network in the country. This programme will run until 2030, according to recent statements by the official state press-service. According to some leading Russian experts in the roadbuilding sector, the need to implement these plans is acute. At present the tota