The Mykolaiv Alumina Plant is preparing to resume the work

The Mykolaiv alumina plant, which is planned to be privatized by the end of the year, is preparing to resume work.

Vitalyi Kim, the head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration, told Ukrinform about the resumption of work at the Mykolaiv alumina plant, which belonged to the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

“There is good news for the Moscow State University, but more on that later. Currently, the task is to restore its work, people must work there and receive a salary. While the review of the owner’s appeal is ongoing, then management will visit the enterprise, and after a certain time it should be operational. Of course, there shouldn’t be anything Russian,” Kim commented.

He clarified that currently the company employs about 300 people out of 6,000 before the war. They are mainly engaged in the protection and maintenance of sludge fields.

Kim also noted that certain problems with sludge fields may arise during the transition of the plant from state ownership to private ownership. Their safe operation requires serious financial costs. After all, it is not excluded that during hot and windy weather there may be dust emissions from them again, as it happened many times before the full-scale war. However, the government keeps this issue under control.

USM previously reported that the State Property Fund plans to privatize the Mykolaiv Alumina Plant, which belongs to the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska’s “Rusal” company, by the end of the year.

Legally, the plant has not yet reached the management of State Property Fund. But the Fund plans to quickly put the asset up for auction as soon as it gets it under management.

It takes 60-90 days to prepare the object for privatization. Therefore, it is quite possible to start the privatization of the plant in the second or third quarter of the current year.

By February 24, 2022, the Mykolaiv Alumina Plant was valued at $1 billion. State Property Fund puts the assets up for privatization at book value, and then the market already determines the final price. It is currently difficult to determine the book value of the plant. To do this, it is necessary to study what is left of the resources, debts, and analyze the accounting and financial statements of the plant. The facility is currently down, so State Property Fund will look for ways to restart it.