The 39 Ukrainian infrastructure projects stipulated in the Drive Ukraine 2030 strategy have been included in the Indicative trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) Investment Action Plan and almost EUR 4.5 billion has been allocated for financing these projects.

Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelian announced this at a news briefing on the European Union’s "Assistance to the Ukrainian Authorities for Improvement of the Infrastructure Cycle Management" project in Kyiv on Tuesday, the CFTS correspondent reports.

The abovementioned action plan was prepared by the European Union and the World Bank with the aim of developing transport links in the Eastern Partnership countries. According to the minister, implementation of these 39 projects will significantly deepen the infrastructural integration of Ukraine and become an organic part of the European transport network in the future.

According to Omelian, almost EUR 4.5 billion has been allocated for these 39 projects in accordance with the European Commission’s project. "…Implementation of Drive Ukraine costs about USD 60 billion. We have already obtained at least 50% of the funds for it from the state budget and 10% from our European partners, international financial institutions, and a public-private partnership in the first year of its implementation," Omelian said.

As the CFTS portal reported previously, the European Commission has determined the amount of investments required for implementation of trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) projects in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.

The projects will require an estimated investment of almost EUR 13 billion and foresee a total of 4,800 kilometers of road and rail, 6 ports, and 11 logistics centers. Those projects will make possible the construction and rehabilitation of new and existing roads, rail, ports, airports as well as logistical centers and border crossing points.

The priority investments include both short-term projects to be completed by 2020 and long-term projects aiming to improve transport links on the TEN-T by 2030.

In November last year, the European Commission published indicative maps of the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) on the territories of Eastern Partnership countries, including Ukraine. “The European Commission’s decision means that Ukraine is included in the Trans-European Core Transport Network and that it becomes an important participant in the development of a Europe-Asia transport corridor. The historical significance of this cannot be overestimated. For the first time, the Ukrainian transport network becomes part of the strategic transport and logistics corridors of the European Union. This is an important step towards infrastructural integration of Ukraine, which means that Ukrainian infrastructure is being modernized, gradually acquiring European quality, and is considered by the European Commission as an integral component of the European Union’s transport and logistics system,” Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelian said in November 2018 while presenting the maps on the territory of Ukraine.