Ukrainian roads are among the five worst in the world. They are second only to the roads in Madagascar. This fact is not too surprising, as each of us has experienced potholes and potholes on Ukrainian roads, as they say, "firsthand." Why the asphalt also comes off Ukrainian roads with snow every spring, and who and where the budget money goes to, is explained in the article by 24.
No snow, no asphalt
To say that Ukrainian roads are in a deplorable state is an understatement. And after a snowy winter, it's even worse. After all, whole pieces of asphalt often come off with the snow. Everything is in the "best" Ukrainian traditions: the road was repaired poorly, in a hurry, lacking funds, and some materials were saved. And most importantly, there is no one to blame.
The guarantee of road quality should not be a year or two. Experts emphasize that road maintenance is 10-25 years, taking into account, of course, the class of the road. However, experts state that despite the level of budget funding and the rate of road failure, there is a tendency for the general condition of roads in Ukraine to deteriorate.
However, according to President Poroshenko's statements, an additional UAH 15 billion will be allocated for road construction in Ukraine this year from the National Bank of Ukraine. In addition, roads will be repaired with domestic government bonds. The Ministry of Finance will also help. At the same time, the President assured that 2,500 kilometers of roads should be built in Ukraine in 2017.
In turn, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman is also in favor of building new roads. During last year's inspections of roads in central Ukraine, he promised to allocate a record 35-40 billion hryvnias for roads. Groysman wants to repair Ukrainian roads with foreign equipment, but with the help of domestic builders. But as you know, promising money does not mean giving it.
It won't get any better
Experts believe that such ambitious statements by government officials are completely unfounded. If we take into account the balance of fuel consumption in Ukraine, we need to spend between 40 and 60 billion hryvnias on Ukrainian roads. However, this money simply disappears somewhere "in the bowels of the Cabinet of Ministers," said transport expert Vyacheslav Konovalov at a press conference entitled "Ninety percent of the capital's roads need repair: where does the budget money go?" on Monday, February 27.
Based on the current state of Ukrainian roads in the capital, Kyiv needs about 20 billion hryvnias for normal capital repairs of its infrastructure, which includes roads, bridges, crossings, and various communications, says Viktor Medvid, a transportation expert. However, about 2 billion is planned for this area in 2017. That is, the expert says, a tenth of the money that is needed. It is clear that this is not enough to do the job properly and in full.
These planned 2 billion hryvnias will include the corruption component, which is usually 20-30%, so we are already getting about 1.4 billion. Plus, there is the issue of inefficient construction work that takes place out of season, with violations, etc. This is another 30% of efficiency,
- Medved emphasizes.
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Thus, he adds, we cannot say that the roads will get better. The roads will be restored to the same level as they were last year.
In favor of one district
This year, the capital's roads will definitely feel a new lease of life. However, not all of them, but only in certain districts - more precisely, in the left-bank part of the city. According to Vyacheslav Konovalov, in 2017, due to the Eurovision Song Contest at the International Exhibition Center, most of the money allocated for the repair of the capital's roads will be "settled" in the area of the Livoberezhna metro station. The rest of Kyiv may be forgotten.
This year, the capital will face a serious "distortion" due to the Eurovision Song Contest. Even the remaining billion will be heavily "carved up" in favor of Rusanivka and Livoberezhna, and the rest of Kyiv will be forgotten, so to speak,
- Konovalov notes.
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That would be fine, if only it didn't happen like with the 2012 European Football Championship, when roads were built for the football forum and assured that the quality guarantee would be 25 years. In reality, however, the expert says, the contractors modestly admitted that even these state-of-the-art roads provide a quality guarantee for only a year.
However, Kyivavtodor shows that each contractor has signed additional agreements to the contract, and if the asphalt melts with the snow, the contractor will carry out certain work. However, according to Konovalov, this happens only formally. "For example, several kilometers of the road were covered with snow, and only 100-200 meters of work was done in the form of cosmetic repairs. That was the end of it.
According to experts, there are many shortcomings in the functioning of Kyivavtodor itself. Currently, the structure includes about 30 enterprises. It is difficult to keep track of them because there is no general statistics on the functioning of each of them. That is why the reform of this corporation is the number one priority for the capital in order to build high-quality new roads.
Corruption and roads
Of course, nothing in Ukraine can do without corruption. The corruption component of road construction and repair in Ukraine ranges from 20% to 60%, experts say. First, there is pure corruption, approximately 20-30%, depending on the cost of roads. Secondly, physical theft of materials, their misuse, etc. Because when a road is being built, some people involved in the process get summer cottages, commercial facilities, etc.
Moreover, the cost structure of road construction or repair in Ukraine is lower than, for example, abroad, Medvid notes. "We have almost all the necessary materials, from bitumen to crushed stone. However, our schemes are cunning.
Our roads are built by foreign companies, they come in, get money for themselves, hire contractors in Ukraine who do all the rough work and earn a pittance, while the main money goes to Europe,
- Medved says.
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When concluding a contract, the contractor must provide a guarantee for the part of the road he has restored. Quite often, there are no such guarantees, and with a required service life of at least 8-10 years, roads wear out in a year or even less. To solve this problem, it is necessary to create professional insurance institutions that will protect against the risks of the contractor's unfulfilled obligations. This, among other things, means serious changes to the Commercial and Civil Codes and the law on insurance. Currently, experts say that in 80% cases, insurance companies do not fulfill their obligations.
So, when asked how the road repairs will end this year, experts say that the main roads will be repaired, while problems in residential areas and small streets will remain as they were.
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