The Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure and the Spilno design office continue to work on concession projects at the state-owned Kherson merchant seaport and the state-owned Olvia specialized seaport, and the projects are entering a new phase in which the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade will be involved.

According to Spilno, a consortium of consultants was selected to prepare concession projects at the Olvia and Kherson seaports. These consultants conducted a feasibility study for the projects and met with a large number of potential domestic and international private partners to consider their proposals on implementation of the projects.

The Ministry of Infrastructure’s working groups for analyzing the effectiveness of the concession projects at the Kherson and Olvia seaports approved the draft conclusions of the analysis of the effectiveness of public-private partnership on both projects in October following approval of the feasibility study for the projects.

They are now beginning the next phase of the preparation for the project, which involves approval of these conclusions by the Ministry of Economic Development, after which the Ministry of Infrastructure will be able to set up tender commissions to prepare for concession tenders.

The concession project at the Kherson seaport is expected to help attract investment totaling about UAH 1.37 billion and increase local and state budget revenues to UAH 14.3 billion over the 30-year period of the concession agreement, including revenues of up to UAH 2.8 billion from concession payments.

Implementation of the concession project at the Olvia seaport is expected to help attract investments totaling about UAH 17.3 billion and increase local and state budget revenues to UAH 58 billion over the 35-year period of the concession agreement, including revenues of up to UAH 19.5 billion from concession payments.