Ukrainian Railways to receive 11 bln hryvni from budget in 2023 - Finance Ministry

MOSCOW. Nov 8 (Interfax) - Direct budget financing of Ukrainian Railways will amount to 5 billion hryvni in 2023, including 3.5 billion hryvni allotted over the first ten months, in addition to 6 billion hryvni provided by the government as a state guarantee of the company's borrowings from international financial institutions, Ukrainian media said, citing the Ukrainian Finance Ministry.

This includes 3.9 billion hryvni borrowed from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and 2.1 billion hryvni from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the ministry said.

Out of 3.5 billion hryvni allotted this year, almost 3 billion hryvni were spent on the procurement of new passenger cars, including finalization of the payment for 100 passenger cars ordered in 2021 and 44 cars ordered in 2023.

"An advance payment for 44 new passenger cars was made on October 28 of this year, and this includes the delivery of nine new reserved seat cars. These will be the first new reserved seat cars purchased over the past 15 years, and the first reserved seat cars produced in Ukraine," the statement quoted Ukrainian Deputy Finance Minister Alexander Kava as saying. He said that Ukraine used to purchase Russian-made reserved seat cars.

International projects aimed to restore railroad infrastructure are also being worked on, the ministry said. This includes an EBRD loan of up to 200 million euros for the Emergency Support for Ukrainian Railways project, a $25 million World Bank grant for the Rehabilitation of Critical Infrastructure and Network Connectivity (RELINC) project, a French loan of 37.6 million euros, as well as a grant of 14 million Swiss francs from Switzerland.

As reported, Ukrainian Railways signed a contract with the Kryukov Railway Car Building Works in the Poltava region this fall for building 44 passenger cars worth 1.951 billion hryvni before December 31, 2025.

The plant finalized the fulfillment of a contract with Ukrainian Railways for 100 passenger cars by spring 2023. The cars were ordered under an over 3-billion-hryvni contract concluded in 2021. It said, however, that the payment was late.