Upgrading Ukraine’s Roads

On November 28, Chinese stateowned company Sinohydro Corp. Ltd. signed an agreement with Ukraine’s state road agency Ukravtodor to upgrade the KievChop highway, which connects the capital with a city on the UkraineHungary border.

The contract, worth about 42.3 million euros ($50.16 million), was signed in Kiev by Xu Fei, Sinohydro representative in Ukraine, and Slavomir Novak, an acting head of Ukravtodor.

Under the terms of the contract, the Chinese company will modernize a 22.3-km-long section of the highway near Ukraine’s northern city of Zhytomyr, expanding the road from two to four lanes in each direction.

In addition, the project also in- cludes the construction of four road interchanges and two pedestrian bridges, the reconstruction of three railway overpasses, and the modernization of another bridge along the route.

Once completed, the upgrade is expected to enhance the capacity of the 821-km-long Kiev-Chop highway, one of the country’s logistic arteries, whilst also reducing traffic on the Zhytomyr section, which currently serves about 10,000 motorists per day.

The project, set to start at the beginning of 2018, is set to be completed within two years. It is financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank.

It will be the second such project involving Chinese companies to carry out the modernization of Ukrainian roads.