Ukraine’s road industry until 2023 to completely switch to European standards – Ukravtodor

The road industry of Ukraine until 2023 will completely switch to European standards and principles; institutional reforms will begin with the state road research institute DerzhdorNDI.

The head of the State Agency of Automobile Roads of Ukraine (Ukravtodor), Oleksandr Kubrakov, when presenting a three-year plan for the transformation of the agency into the state enterprise DerzhdorNDI, it is DerzhdorNDI that will be responsible for implementing reforms with the support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Reform Support Team under Ukravtodor, as well as Ukravtodor.

"By making changes at the institutional level, we ensure their irreversibility. The vector of reforms we have chosen is uncontested. Our key partner on this path is the EBRD, because within the framework of the loan agreement signed last year, we are not only building roads, but also implementing four systemic reforms," Kubrakov said on Facebook.

According to him, the set of measures to be implemented can be divided into several directions.

The first one is the prevention of corruption risks at all levels. The matter concerns the transfer of all tender documents into an electronic format. It is planned to create a procurement methodology for various types of work, the development of an open register of asphalt concrete plants and a calculator for taking into account the contractor's experience continues. The recent projects are supported by the U.S. government-funded TAPAS project.

The second one is road quality management. Ukravtodor has already updated its approach to road monitoring, and in 2021 it will continue to collect instrumental data on the operational condition of roads. By 2022, it is planned to fully automate the process of prioritizing road works through the HDM-4 system, which is used by 134 governments around the world.

It is planned to use internationally recognized forms of contracts on major road projects, including FIDIC, NEC, etc. This means that the pricing system, arbitration and other systemic things will be brought to EU standards.

Source: www.en.interfax.com.ua