Needed investments in 3 Ukrainian ports of Danube cluster estimated at $400 million

MOSCOW. June 23 (Interfax) - The demand for investments into the largest ports of the Danube cluster, Izmail, Reni, and Ust-Dunaisky, is about $400 million, Ukrainian media outlets said citing Mustafa Nayyem, the head of the Ukrainian State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development, as saying at the Transport, Logistics and Infrastructure Roundtable at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London.

The ports increased cargo traffic threefold since February, 2022, but there is a goal of 30 million tonnes of transshipment a year, he said.

He named private partnership and private investments as one of the vectors of the development of the ports. "The government is developing five flagship projects in the port infrastructure area," Nayyem said, mentioning concession projects at the Odessa, Chernomorsk, and Izmail ports and the project of the development of the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company.

As reported, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development Alexander Kubrakov said at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London that five large companies are showing their interest in concession projects at the Chernomorsk sea port.

In addition, the Ukrainian government website said that the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank, in cooperation with the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine, is mobilizing private investments for upgrading and expanding the fleet of the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company.