Cabinet of Ministers reallocates UAH 2 billion for road development and maintenance

The Cabinet of Ministers reallocated UAH 2 billion for the development and maintenance of public roads.

This is stated in the government's resolution No. 475.

Thus, we are talking about redistributing money that was previously allocated for expenditures under the program "fulfillment of debt obligations on loans raised by the state or under state guarantees for the development of the public road network".

"Roads in the country are being repaired at a rapid pace, but only in regions loyal to the government. The tripling of the budget for these purposes demonstrates that the government is preparing for the elections," said Viktor Medvid, director of William Invest-Expert consulting company.

"The situation on the roads has improved slightly. I have recently traveled through Kirovohrad, Poltava, Cherkasy and Kyiv regions and can confirm that the roads are being repaired, and in many areas they are being overhauled. This is not just patching," the expert clarified.

Viktor Medved noted that "roads are being repaired using old, Soviet technology."

"This technology is not bad, even better than European ones in many ways. The main thing is that it is not violated. I have seen asphalt being laid using this technology under the supervision of controllers," the expert explained.

He emphasized that "they have finally started to build roadsides on the roads, the absence of which had previously significantly increased the number of accidents."

"The funds allocated by the government for road repairs are not that big, and they are unlikely to be enough to repair all the bad roads in Ukraine. But the accident rate will certainly decrease," said Viktor Medvid.

But, according to him, not every region will have its roads repaired. The expert noted that this item is not equally funded everywhere.

"The situation in Dnipropetrovs'k region is very difficult. I am sure that it was for political reasons that money was not sent there. The situation is similar in Zakarpattia region. It is noticeable that in those regions where the government lost the local elections, there are problems with roads," Medved emphasized.

According to him, roads are repaired only before the elections.

"There is a reason for this activity on the roads. It is 100% related to the upcoming elections," he assured.

Earlier, Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman promised that road organizations would build about 290 roads by the end of 2017.