The Ministry of Development and Trade has created a special coordination council to deal with Ukrainian ports

The Coordination Council will deal with issues of “stimulating a competitive environment and ensuring equal conditions for business in ports.”

As noted in the entity, the new Council has already started working — it will work on the implementation of transparent rules for the use of port assets, improving regulatory mechanisms and creating an effective dialogue between the state and business.

“Ukrainian seaports have considerable potential for development, even in the conditions of a major war. They should become important points of economic growth and investment attraction. However, there are currently significant obstacles that hinder the development of port infrastructure and reduce investment attractiveness.

The work of the Council will allow solving a number of urgent issues. One of them is land use in ports, which remains unregulated today. This prevents the development of infrastructure, attracting investments and effectively managing state assets. I am convinced that thanks to the Council we will be able to increase the investment attractiveness of Ukrainian ports,” said the Minister for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine Oleksiy Kuleba.

Today, the main areas of work of the Coordination Council are:

• Analysis of the current state of use of state port infrastructure.

• Assessment of mechanisms for allocating land plots within seaports.

• Introduction of transparent competitive procedures for access to infrastructure through the electronic public procurement system.

• Development of effective and transparent regulatory mechanisms from the state.

Also, in the seaports of Ukraine, in particular in the port “Pivdennyi”, there are many promising lands for infrastructure development, construction of terminals and warehouses. However, for decades these territories have remained leased to persons who use them not for development, but for the purpose of further resale. This limits investments, reduces the efficiency of land use and the competitiveness of Ukrainian ports.

As noted in the ministry, to solve the problem it is necessary to introduce transparent rules for the use of seaport lands, which will contribute to the development of strategic infrastructure and attract new investors.

Equally important are the issues of transparency and procedures for providing access to port infrastructure. There have already been cases of raider seizure of enterprises with foreign investments in Ukrainian ports.