The Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers officially approved the commencement of concession of the state-owned stevedoring companies at the Kherson and Olvia seaports by adopting the relevant decision at its meeting on August 14.

This was announced by Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelian, the CFTS portal reports.

"The government has just decided to approve the start of concession of the Kherson and Olvia seaports and the terms of their concession. We have received more than twenty applications from powerful foreign and Ukrainian companies," the minister said.

"We have prepared a new law on concessions, which the new president of Ukraine has identified as one of the priority laws to be adopted in the new parliament this fall; created the Spilno Public-Private Partnership Office, which has prepared a feasibility study for a number of infrastructure facilities based on the best Western standards; completed all the bureaucratic procedures for approval of the terms, procedures, and requirements. This is the first time we have done this and we are the first to do it. We did it right and did it jointly with the best government, public, foreign, and Ukrainian experts, as well as businesses," Omelian said.

As the minister of infrastructure previously stated, tenders for concession of the state-owned stevedores in the Kherson and Olvia seaports could be announced this month. All tender procedures could be completed before the end of the year.

New details of the planned tender were reported earlier. In particular, it was reported that contracts will be signed with the winners of the tenders and that the parties to the contracts will be the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Ukrainian Seaports Authority (USPA), the winning company, and an enterprise that the winning company will create and register in Ukraine for implementation of the project.

The acceptable period of implementation of the projects that bidders submit as confirmation of their qualification has been extended from 10 to 15 years. To increase the number of potential bidders, the requirement to have experience in working with cargoes in the port industry has been expanded to include the entire range of cargoes. Provision is also made for a transition period of up to two years, during which the concessionaire will be able to prepare and secure approval of its investment project, obtain licenses and other necessary permits, and take an inventory of the concession assets.