During a working trip to the Poltava region, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the plant of PJSC AutoKrAZ in Kremenchuk. The Head of State watched the testing of equipment at a special landfill and samples of production of the enterprise. The equipment moved with obstacles on land and in water, moved with great incline and showed the quality of parts, in particular the engine.
The President highly evaluated the presentation and the capacities of the equipment.
"These tests are truly impressive," Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.
The enterprise is now in a difficult situation, so its management together with the Head of State, Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Krykliy and heads of the region and the city discussed ways of leading the plant out of the crisis.
According to CEO of the enterprise Roman Chernyak, in 2015-2016 AutoKrAZ supplied one thousand vehicles per year to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. But then orders began to decline, and from 2018 orders stopped altogether.
The CEO appealed to the President to support the enterprise with state order. In his opinion, the AutoKrAZ equipment can become a “backbone of the Ukrainian army”.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that the company should have a plan for production of goods, and urged to take part in tenders, but the proposals should be fair, in particular regarding compliance with the terms of production and deadlines.
"How much and what kind of products are you ready to produce, at what cost and what the workers' wages will be?" the President asked.
The President emphasized that the plant should not only focus on the production of vehicles for the needs of the military, but also work towards the production of special equipment for public utilities, local communities, private sector.
At the same time, Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that AutoKrAZ should work on improving the quality of products, its technical characteristics and adhere to the deadlines of fulfilling orders.
Vladyslav Krykliy noted that last year the ministry supported the plant and provided it with an order from Ukravtodor, which was fulfilled yet with delay. He promised to work out the issues voiced by the Head of State together with the leadership of the city and the region.
