The Ministry of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure (Ministry of Reconstruction) is working to be able to announce tenders for concession projects in the port of Chornomorsk already in early 2024.
Taras Boychuk, head of the Project Office for the Development of Public-Private Partnerships, told about this during the "Infrastructure Day 2023" of the European Business Association.
He reminded that in April of this year, work was resumed on the property concession projects of SE "Sea Trade Port Chornomorsk". We are talking about projects and separate tenders that will concern the first, container and ferry terminals. "To date, the procedures for the selection of advisers have been completed. These projects are supported by the International Finance Corporation and the EBRD. The feasibility studies for the projects are currently being finalized. We expect that the work on the preparation of the feasibility study will be completed at the end of this year - at the beginning of next year. And then the internal approval procedure with the Ministry of Reconstruction and the Ministry of Economy," Boychuk informed.
According to him, the announcement of concession tenders is expected in 2024. "At the same time, the tender documentation is being updated. So, these projects are very close to being announced next year. The security situation may affect these plans, but from the point of view of preparation, the ministry has chosen an approach according to which the projects will be prepared," added the head of the Project office for the development of public-private partnership. He explained that after the first pilot concession projects and amendments to the legislation, the work on the preparation of PPP projects in the port of Chornomorsk is now much faster. You can read detailed public information about concession projects, in particular, on a special page of the Ministry of Reconstruction portal.
Also, in the context of PPP, Taras Boychuk noted that the Verkhovna Rada has draft law No. 7508, which was voted on in October last year. "This is the completion of the reform of the public-private partnership. This is the introduction of all the necessary changes in all sectors, including transport, to make this tool work. Now the bill is ready for the second reading, and we expect that it should solve the problems that we have were during the preparation of various PPP projects... The changes are related to the reduction of risk for investors. For example, it is allowed to mix those sources at the expense of which the investor's investments are compensated," said the representative of the Ministry of Reconstruction.
We will remind that the process of preparation for the implementation of concession projects in the Black Sea port began even before the full-scale invasion of Russia. Tenders were planned to be announced in 2022, but this did not happen due to the war. In the spring of 2023, the relevant ministry resumed the process. The first stage is the development of a technical and economic justification, the next stage is the holding of a competition. At that time, the department talked about preparations for the concession of the first, container and fifth terminals.
Preparation of the feasibility study is financed by the Global Infrastructure Fund, experts and consultants are involved by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
TTS also wrote that the Danish shipping company Moller-Maersk was interested in the concession of the container terminal. And the Vice Prime Minister - Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov statedIt is clear that 5 large companies have already shown interest in PPP projects in Chornomorsk.