DTEK urges intl financial organizations to finance private Ukrainian power companies

MOSCOW. Jan 20 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian power holding DTEK has called on international financial organizations to open access to financing to private Ukrainian companies to be able to purchase equipment for rebuilding damaged power supply infrastructure.

"I would like to ask international financial organizations whether they could amend their rules and procedures so that private Ukrainian power companies could receive financing from them," Ukrainian media quoted Yulia Burmistenko, chief of DTEK's international relations department, as saying in her remarks at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland's Davos.

DTEK is currently receiving part of the necessary equipment through the Ukrainian Energy Ministry and from international energy companies, while it needs to intensify these purchases to promptly rebuild damaged facilities and resume power supply to customers, she said.

Ukrainian media have reported with reference to a source with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) that the bank is currently having discussions on possibly financing DTEK. The source suggested it was likely that the decision would be positive, considering the company's role on the Ukrainian power market and the degree to which its infrastructure has been damaged.