President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi has said that it is necessary to find ways to attract private investors to the Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia).
The president said this at a press conference in Kyiv, the CFTS correspondent reports.
“I consider Ukrzaliznytsia a strategic enterprise. However, it is necessary to think about how to establish a partnership with private investors. It will be very difficult without them. This enterprise has been bankrupt for many years, and only by force can order can be established there," Zelenskyi said.
According to the president, it is necessary to replace all the levels of management at Ukrzaliznytsia in order to eradicate corruption in the company.
He believes that the reason for Ukrzaliznytsia’s bankruptcy is its large number of high-interest loans.
According to Zelenskyi, unprofitable passenger transportation is not the reason for the company’s bankruptcy.
“Ukrzaliznytsia has a loan debt of hundreds of millions of dollars... They took loans at 10-12%. One intermediary or another between the bank and Ukrzaliznytsia was making money on this. Therefore, one of the reasons is the accumulation of loans with a very high interest rate," the president said.
