Pilot Project: Mandatory Permits From Architectural And Construction Inspectorate Canceled For Road Construction Companies

The Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers has adopted the resolution "On Implementation of a Pilot Project for Overhaul of Public Roads," which provides for optimization of the procedure for granting permission to perform road repair works.

The Ministry of Infrastructure announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.

According to Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Kryklyi, the government has introduced an experiment that will allow road construction companies to spend more time on road repair work and less time on applications for permits.

"Deregulation of works involving overhaul of roads will accelerate the rehabilitation of Ukrainian roads. Contractors will be able to start work without permission from the State Architectural and Construction Inspectorate of Ukraine and involve independent road construction consulting engineers in construction, reconstruction, and repair of roads on a competitive basis. Works will be insured for the period of their implementation and the quality warranty period, but the procedures will be simplified as much as possible. Implementation of the experiment will save up to four months. In international practice, the savings resulting from the use of a consulting engineer amount to up to 15% of the cost of construction," the minister said.

According to Kryklyi, a contractor currently spends 3-4 months applying for permits from the State Architectural and Construction Inspectorate before it can begin road repair works.

“If we built 134 kilometers of the Mariupol-Zaporizhia highway in two months, imagine how many kilometers of roads can be built across the country if the procedures are deregulated for contractors,” he said.

According to the statement, the experiment was introduced for a period of two years.

As the CFTS portal reported earlier, the State Automobile Road Service (Ukravtodor) has announced an international tender for construction of three transport interchanges near Kyiv. The work is expected to be financed with loans from the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

As reported, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has signed laws that provide for raising an additional UAH 19 billion for financing roads. The funds are expected to be raised from Ukrainian banks and through issuance of Eurobonds.