During his speech at the All-Ukrainian Forum "Ukraine 30. Infrastructure", President Volodymyr Zelenskyy outlined the key vectors of infrastructure development for the transformation of Ukraine into a country comfortable for people.
The Head of State noted that the infrastructure sector has been in decline for more than 20 years.
He reminded that an important point in his election program was to create a comfortable country.
"The first thing is the roads. There were more than one million jokes about them, more than one million hryvnias were stolen during their repair. Everyone thought that good roads and Ukraine is a fantasy. We have proved that this can become a reality," Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.
According to him, in 2021 it is planned to repair and reconstruct four and a half thousand kilometers of state roads and two thousand kilometers of local ones. The construction of the Kyiv bypass road with a total length of 150 km, the M-30 highway with a length of 1,400 kilometers, which will be the longest road in Ukraine and will connect the east and west of the country, is to begin as well.
The second priority, according to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is the national bridge restoration program, within which 216 bridges were built and renovated in 2020, including the legendary and infamous bridge in Zaporizhzhia. This year it is planned to build and upgrade 245 bridges, including the one in Kremenchuk.
"Every day we prove that Ukraine can be united not only by slogans, but also by new roads and bridges," the President added.
Attention will also be paid to the railway, so that the intercity rail journey takes Ukrainians a maximum of three to four hours. This will include upgrading the cars, improving and introducing new Intercity routes. The system of suburban trains will also be improved, in particular, the City Express project is being prepared - this is another, high-quality and modern level of suburban communication, which, among other things, will help overcome traffic problems in large cities. The first stage of the project includes Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro.
"Our fourth direction is air travel. First of all, it is a program for the development of regional airports. In particular, in Uzhhorod, Chernivtsi, Poltava and a total of 16 cities of Ukraine,” the Head of State said.
According to him, the reconstruction of the international airport in the city of Dnipro has recently begun, and the construction of the airport of international importance in Zakarpattia, between Uzhhorod and Mukachevo, is also planned.
"Our ambitious yet doable goal, which we want to achieve as soon as possible, is a national state airline that will be able to operate flights both within the country and around the world," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The President also reminded that the law on concession was recently adopted and two concession agreements have already been signed for the port of Olbia and the port of Kherson. According to him, this is a significant investment in the development of port infrastructure and large revenues to the state budget. And the adopted law on inland water transport launches the development of river transport, which will help reduce the load on the roads and give a potential economic effect of billions of hryvnias.
"We will continue to actively develop the social infrastructure in each region of Ukraine - hundreds of schools, kindergartens, stadiums, hospitals and ER departments," the President noted.
Another important area will be the development of industrial parks.
"Currently, we have 46 industrial parks, but, unfortunately, most of them are only on paper, without proper infrastructure, communications and roads. We are working to solve these problems and build an effective, powerful system of industrial parks in Ukraine in each region," Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized.
The Head of State also noted the tourist potential. Therefore, this year the "Large Restoration" program was launched, which provides for the restoration of castles, museums, theaters and other pearls of the historical and cultural heritage of Ukraine. Over the next three years, 150 such facilities will be renovated.
"Large Construction" is not just a beautiful advertising picture. And this is not just an impetus for the growth of our economy and GDP. Infrastructure is the attitude of the state to its people. This is what we all use today, every day. And this is what will remain after us," Volodymyr Zelenskyy summed up.
