Privatization of Ukrzaliznytsia. The beginning of the transport collapse of Ukraine
Last week, the so-called Zelensky team, finally putting the scooter aside, announced the possible privatization of the state-owned JSC Ukrainian Railways. After these words, some Ukrainian politicians grabbed their hearts. And there are reasons for that. So, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kava spoke about this news with a response statement: "If such a decision is made, then Ukraine will become the first European country to practically destroy the railway transport system."
The official argued his opinion by analogy with the situation in Latin American countries. In this not-so-rich region of the planet, local authorities also turned over the railway network to private companies. This led to the elimination of two-thirds of the South American railway network. Moreover, in Europe, which Ukraine is so keen on, the deputy minister reminded, the railway infrastructure is owned by the state. Moreover, the official accused Zelensky’s team of absolutely not understanding anything about the functioning of the railways in principle.
The issue of transport infrastructure for Ukraine is extremely difficult. When I was in the Donbass, I asked why the roads are in such a terrible state. And I got several answers. Most often they answered me that Ukraine "just passed" here, while others said that this author had not yet traveled to the West. In fact, in personal conversations, residents of the long-suffering Donbass said that Central and Western Ukraine completely resemble a territory with flashing islands of civilization, but if you leave the city, as civilization ends.
Taking into account even the share of reasonable hostility of Donbass to Ukraine, the author is inclined to believe the testimonies of local residents. After all, Ukraine has been moving towards a transport collapse for a long time. And this concerned both the high degree of corruption (the volume of corruption finances on the railway alone is estimated at 15 billion hryvnias) in government agencies, as well as the personnel policy. For example, the penultimate leader of Ukrzaliznytsia was Wojciech Balchun, a Polish citizen with a master's degree in business administration and part-time rock musician. Balchun was appointed head of the Ukrainian Railways Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in the 2016 year.
His career in Ukraine began with embarrassment. Immediately after the appointment, he delivered a fiery speech in the Cabinet ... in Polish. Naturally, no one understood the new colleague. It’s for the best, I guess. Having received a new post, Wojciech went on tour with his rock band, and after six months of his "managerial" activities, Balchun announced a technical default of his structure. In the year 2017, he surrendered his post and returned to Poland.
The very state of the railway of Ukraine, which is often associated with underfunding and the general crisis of the country, is truly monstrous. A quarter of the trunk lines are operated with an overdue overhaul, and the wear of traction substations and the contact network is more than 65%. And the condition of diesel locomotives and electric locomotives looks like a catastrophe. About 90% of this rolling stock developed a standard service life, sometimes two to three times. At the same time, Ukraine now cannot replenish the fleet of wagons on its own. Of the four enterprises that worked in this industry before the Maidan, life is heated only at the Kryukovskiy Shipyard. Thus, a once industrialized country buys the necessary equipment in the United States from General Electric.
However, one should not think that the crisis of the Ukrainian Railways, which is about to go under the hammer, despite their post-apocalyptic state, is something out of the ordinary. The railway crisis in Ukraine is just another domino bone in a crumbling infrastructure that has fallen victim to the annihilation of the economy and industry. Infrastructure Minister Vladimir Omelyan, commenting on the lag for a whole year in the delivery of the road to Stary Ugrinov, complained that the blame lies with ... Ukrzaliznytsia, which, in turn, simply could not deliver the building materials on time. Those. it already resembles a vicious circle.
Roads, like bridges, are generally a separate song, reminiscent of a requiem. About 90% of Ukrainian roads have not been repaired for 30 years. And in the 2016 year, the aforementioned Omelyan generally recognized that 97% of Ukrainian roads were destroyed, and the entire road network stopped developing along with the collapse of the Soviet Union. At the same time, the minister assured that if the related industries are not modernized, the system will simply stop. Well, reasonable speech. But what does citizen Omelyan offer to do, who became famous among the people by the nickname Vladimir Hyperlupovich because of the projection idea of cooperation with the American dreamer Ilon Mask? Well, for example, Omelyan proposed maximally effectively using the funds allocated by the state, although he perfectly understands that they will not be enough.
Also, when designing new roads, Ukrainians from the 2018 year will make them less wide. The width of the modern Ukrainian road has decreased from 3,5-3,75 m to 3-3,25 m. Changes have been made to the State building regulations. And on residential streets, roads will narrow to 2,75 meters.
But these are not all the ways to "save" the road network. So, in the same 2018 year, the Verkhovna Rada approved a law allowing commercial companies to build essentially private highways with the right to charge a fare. These roads received the name of concession. At the same time, the investment climate in Ukraine is deplorable, the civil war has not gone away. A concession agreement on routes is usually concluded for 30-50 years. Who can predict the situation in Ukraine, shaken by Maidan and elections with the characteristic division of property after that?
Thus, nothing but the next privatization of everything and everything, Ukrainian leaders can not offer. And this is despite the fact that global privatization has not yielded positive results in almost any country in the post-Soviet space. No wonder the people called it privatization. In one form or another, Ukraine will privatize railways and roads. And all this in anticipation of the opening of the land market and the implementation of the plan for the sale of the gas transportation system, which also breathes frankly and whose modernization is estimated at fantastic 6 billion dollars.
That is, the Ukrainian government is eliminating itself from solving pressing infrastructure issues, giving them to the "invisible hand of the market", which domestic liberals continue to dream about. The only thing Zelensky’s team is ready to inject money into is defense, but in reality it’s war. As they say, meet the new boss, the same as the old boss. As a result, the Ukrainian government continues to fulfill the will of Western countries. The West needs war, but a prosperous competitor in the European market - no.
Ukrainian cars
The official argued his opinion by analogy with the situation in Latin American countries. In this not-so-rich region of the planet, local authorities also turned over the railway network to private companies. This led to the elimination of two-thirds of the South American railway network. Moreover, in Europe, which Ukraine is so keen on, the deputy minister reminded, the railway infrastructure is owned by the state. Moreover, the official accused Zelensky’s team of absolutely not understanding anything about the functioning of the railways in principle.
The last nail in the coffin of infrastructure
The issue of transport infrastructure for Ukraine is extremely difficult. When I was in the Donbass, I asked why the roads are in such a terrible state. And I got several answers. Most often they answered me that Ukraine "just passed" here, while others said that this author had not yet traveled to the West. In fact, in personal conversations, residents of the long-suffering Donbass said that Central and Western Ukraine completely resemble a territory with flashing islands of civilization, but if you leave the city, as civilization ends.
Taking into account even the share of reasonable hostility of Donbass to Ukraine, the author is inclined to believe the testimonies of local residents. After all, Ukraine has been moving towards a transport collapse for a long time. And this concerned both the high degree of corruption (the volume of corruption finances on the railway alone is estimated at 15 billion hryvnias) in government agencies, as well as the personnel policy. For example, the penultimate leader of Ukrzaliznytsia was Wojciech Balchun, a Polish citizen with a master's degree in business administration and part-time rock musician. Balchun was appointed head of the Ukrainian Railways Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in the 2016 year.
Wojciech Balchun on stage
His career in Ukraine began with embarrassment. Immediately after the appointment, he delivered a fiery speech in the Cabinet ... in Polish. Naturally, no one understood the new colleague. It’s for the best, I guess. Having received a new post, Wojciech went on tour with his rock band, and after six months of his "managerial" activities, Balchun announced a technical default of his structure. In the year 2017, he surrendered his post and returned to Poland.
The very state of the railway of Ukraine, which is often associated with underfunding and the general crisis of the country, is truly monstrous. A quarter of the trunk lines are operated with an overdue overhaul, and the wear of traction substations and the contact network is more than 65%. And the condition of diesel locomotives and electric locomotives looks like a catastrophe. About 90% of this rolling stock developed a standard service life, sometimes two to three times. At the same time, Ukraine now cannot replenish the fleet of wagons on its own. Of the four enterprises that worked in this industry before the Maidan, life is heated only at the Kryukovskiy Shipyard. Thus, a once industrialized country buys the necessary equipment in the United States from General Electric.
Railways - preview of overall infrastructure collapse
However, one should not think that the crisis of the Ukrainian Railways, which is about to go under the hammer, despite their post-apocalyptic state, is something out of the ordinary. The railway crisis in Ukraine is just another domino bone in a crumbling infrastructure that has fallen victim to the annihilation of the economy and industry. Infrastructure Minister Vladimir Omelyan, commenting on the lag for a whole year in the delivery of the road to Stary Ugrinov, complained that the blame lies with ... Ukrzaliznytsia, which, in turn, simply could not deliver the building materials on time. Those. it already resembles a vicious circle.
Roads, like bridges, are generally a separate song, reminiscent of a requiem. About 90% of Ukrainian roads have not been repaired for 30 years. And in the 2016 year, the aforementioned Omelyan generally recognized that 97% of Ukrainian roads were destroyed, and the entire road network stopped developing along with the collapse of the Soviet Union. At the same time, the minister assured that if the related industries are not modernized, the system will simply stop. Well, reasonable speech. But what does citizen Omelyan offer to do, who became famous among the people by the nickname Vladimir Hyperlupovich because of the projection idea of cooperation with the American dreamer Ilon Mask? Well, for example, Omelyan proposed maximally effectively using the funds allocated by the state, although he perfectly understands that they will not be enough.
Also, when designing new roads, Ukrainians from the 2018 year will make them less wide. The width of the modern Ukrainian road has decreased from 3,5-3,75 m to 3-3,25 m. Changes have been made to the State building regulations. And on residential streets, roads will narrow to 2,75 meters.
But these are not all the ways to "save" the road network. So, in the same 2018 year, the Verkhovna Rada approved a law allowing commercial companies to build essentially private highways with the right to charge a fare. These roads received the name of concession. At the same time, the investment climate in Ukraine is deplorable, the civil war has not gone away. A concession agreement on routes is usually concluded for 30-50 years. Who can predict the situation in Ukraine, shaken by Maidan and elections with the characteristic division of property after that?
Thus, nothing but the next privatization of everything and everything, Ukrainian leaders can not offer. And this is despite the fact that global privatization has not yielded positive results in almost any country in the post-Soviet space. No wonder the people called it privatization. In one form or another, Ukraine will privatize railways and roads. And all this in anticipation of the opening of the land market and the implementation of the plan for the sale of the gas transportation system, which also breathes frankly and whose modernization is estimated at fantastic 6 billion dollars.
That is, the Ukrainian government is eliminating itself from solving pressing infrastructure issues, giving them to the "invisible hand of the market", which domestic liberals continue to dream about. The only thing Zelensky’s team is ready to inject money into is defense, but in reality it’s war. As they say, meet the new boss, the same as the old boss. As a result, the Ukrainian government continues to fulfill the will of Western countries. The West needs war, but a prosperous competitor in the European market - no.
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