Kyiv ring road project attracts Chinese investors Chinese state-owned China Guangdong Provincial Changda Highway Engineering

Co.Ltd has announced its intent to be involved in Kyiv ring road (GKAD) investment pro ject. GKAD is among the most popular projects among foreign investors in Ukraine.It is expected that the competition will attract some 70 companies from Europe, Russia and China. In a conversation with Chinese officials, Minister of Economic Development and T rade of Ukraine Igor Prasolov has expressed willingness, within his authority, t o support the Chinese side in the concessional competition for the capital ring road project. "The government of Ukraine carries out reforms aimed to create a favorable clima te for doing business in our country, as well as to attract a large scale invest ment. In this regard, we are very pleased that Chinese companies have shown an a ctive interest in the current Ukrainian infrastructure projects," Praslov said. He stressed that the Ukrainian-Chinese relations are strategic and mutually bene ficial. The Chinese company, in turn, emphasized to two factors, which, in their opinion , will give them an advantage in competition. The construction company is public and, above all, seeks to implement the state policy of China towards Ukraine, w here making a profit is a secondary objective. The Chinese construction company h as built 4,000 kilometers of roads, including 800 kilometers of highways to the highest European standards. According to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, GKAD construction from the Sto lichnoye shosse highway to M03 Kyiv-Kharkov in the Kyiv-Borispol should be funde d by private investors and the state budget. The government has worked with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to ha lve the cost of a feasibility study. It is estimaked GKAD will cost 428 million Euros. Experts say the new ring road around Kyiv will significantly improve the environ mental burden on the city, increase transit capacity, improve safety and signifi cantly relieve the roads of the capital. According to preliminary calculations, when in place, GKAD will greatly ease aut omobile traffic in Kyiv by taking 20,000 vehicles off Kyiv streets daily, includ ing 11,000 trucks. The project will enable commuters to save some 20 minutes in transit daily. The toll on GKAD will be 58 Euro cents for passenger cars and 1.66 to 3.55Euros f or trucks, depending on size. Offset: China-Ukrainian cooperation in 2015 worth 20 billion USD