President Petro Poroshenko has held a meeting with Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Volodymyr Omelyan and newly appointed Head of the State Road Agency Sławomir Nowak. In the course of the meeting, the President has signed three basic laws creating conditions for the construction of new roads in Ukraine.
The Head of State has signed the Law on the Sources of Funding the Road Sector of Ukraine, which improves the mechanism of funding road construction, the Law on Amendments to Several Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Reformation of the Management System of Roads of Common Use and the Law on Amendments to the Budget Code on the Improvement of the Mechanism of Financial Maintenance of the Road Industry.
“This industry creates jobs and ensures economic development of regions,” Petro Poroshenko said. According to the President, “it is extremely important to ensure transparency of the road construction, maximum efficiency of every kopeck of taxpayers, maximum involvement of Ukrainian producers and maximum quality”. He is confident that the given laws will facilitate that.
The President congratulated Sławomir Nowak on the appointment to a very responsible post and emphasized that “the state road construction is the top priority of the President in the election campaign and implementation of the programs aimed at taking Ukraine out of crisis”.
The Head of State informed the attendees on the results of his meeting with the faction of the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko “Solidarity” in the Verkhovna Rada and on the initiative of the people’s deputies to elaborate proposals to the second reading of the Law on the State Budget, a priority of which will be the increase of the Road Fund and allocation of additional funds for the road construction in 2017.
The President emphasized that the experiment regarding the allocation of 50% of customs income that exceeds the plan to the road construction would be continued. The Head of State noted that the given system had proved its efficiency in western regions. At the same time, according to Petro Poroshenko, this experiment functioned much worse in Odesa region. However, the President is hopeful that the situation will improve.
The President noted the necessity of eliminating “the gap in the construction of Odesa-Reni road”. According to him, the project must be completed in full.
In his turn, Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelyan noted that the laws would facilitate the reform of the industry. “To date, we have a Soviet system. I hope that we will have a European model of road repair and construction in 2017 given Mr. Sławomir Nowak has assumed duties,” the Minister said.
The President is hopeful that the efficient management in that sphere will be demonstrated immediately. “This is what people are expecting. When there is a road, there is a regional development. When there is a road, we save time and vehicles, improve prospects and investment attractiveness of regions,” the Head of State noted.
He reminded that roads had not been built in Ukraine for many years. “This was a source for stealing money of taxpayers and bribery. I am glad that the cost and quality of roads, including major repairs and construction of roads, has been improved significantly,” Petro Poroshenko emphasized.
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