Draft IWT Development Strategy: what is the plan of Ministry of Infrastructure

The Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine has published the draft Development Strategy of Inland Water Transport til 2031, which is necessary for the implementation of the Law of Ukraine “On Inland Water Transport” (the law comes into force on January 1st, 2022).

The draft Strategy is posted on the official website of the MIU and provides for:

• creation of a modernized, technological, efficient and guaranteed public infrastructure on Inland Waterways (IWW), in particular, increasing the efficiency of the operation of shipping locks;
• creation of an optimal logistics system thanks to the development of logistics centers along navigable rivers;
• creation of a sufficient, modern, ecological and energy efficient fleet, as well as properly trained and certified personnel to work on it;
• reorganization of public administration system, which ensures the stable development of IWT and IWW, in particular by eliminating duplication of administrative functions of central executive bodies in relation to all participants in the movement to IWW, introducing a quality management system;
• ensuring effective management and a clear administrative structure for IWT management, which would be able to respond promptly to changes in the industry and the economy as a whole.

“As a result of the implementation of the IWT Strategy, effective development of river logistics is expected, as well as an improvement in the competitiveness of Ukraine on a global scale,” the explanatory note to the draft document says.

It is also expected that the implementation of the Strategy will make it possible to transfer part of the cargo flow from the roads on the river, which in turn will provide significant savings on road repairs, increase revenues to budgets of all levels in the form of taxes, and activate the domestic shipbuilding industry.

At the same time, the draft Strategy states that the need for the next 5 years for the maintenance of IWW is about UAH 4 billion (USD 149.7 million) (or UAH 7 billion (USD 262.1 million) – on the premise of the modernization of some of the locks – the most loaded – Kakhovskyi, Zaporizhzhya, Serednodniprovskyi).

And to create a modernized river information service in accordance with European standards, about UAH 100 million (USd 3.7 million) is needed.

The funds are planned to be obtained from the state budget, international financial organizations and investments of private companies.

Earlier at the forum “Sea and River Freight Cargo Shipping: Market Features, Development Trends” in Odesa, the Head of the Consensus lawyer association Mykhailo Tsurkan noted that despite the close cooperation of the MIU and the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) with business, the new law provides for the introduction of such a number of bylaws that they will be physically impossible to handle by the time the law comes into force in January 2022. According to the speaker, in the remaining months of 2021, it will be necessary to adopt about 53 bylaws in the 70 remaining working days. Counting, for each act there is about 1.5 days to develop, familiarize, make proposals and amendments to documents. Tsurcan has also stressed that the law on IWT provides for the creation of a new body that will specialize in water transport.

“When will this commission begin its work – before the law comes into force or after? After all, part of the tariffs must be approved by this commission,” the lawyer summed up.