Former Transport and Communications Minister Yosyp Vinsky has said that Premier Yulia Tymoshenko's government is hindering the reform of the State Railway Administration of Ukraine (Ukrzaliznytsia).
“On July 25, 2008, a reform program was approved at a meeting of the
board of the Transport and Communications Ministry after preliminary
agreement was reached with all ministries and bodies. Ukraine could
have had a program for Ukrzaliznytsia’s reform… The cabinet could
have adopted all of the documents within a month,” he said at a press
conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday.
He said that at present, a document on the reform was circulating in
government that had been reviewed three times by all interested
ministries and bodies, including the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine.
“Ukrzaliznytsia combines the functions of state management and
economic management, unlike in any other European country. When the
EBRD [the European Bank for reconstruction and Development] sees that
it needs to issue loans to a structure that does not have a market
status regulated by the Ukrainian Economic Code, it’s clear that the
bank cannot issue money,” he said.
Vinsky said that Ukrzaliznytsia needs UAH 80 billion in investment,
although the administration does not have any chance of raising such a
sum.
“The question is: Where can the money be found? The program answers that question,” he said.
He said that one of the reasons for hindering the reform is the
unwillingness of the authorities to make Ukrzaliznytsia’s financial
system more transparent.
“One of the tasks of the program is the improvement of the financial
and economic system through the introduction of a financial and
economic model with a clear and transparent distribution of financial
flows for types of activities. This frightens [officials] most of all,
and the whole reform is hindered due to this task,” he said.
He also said that inefficient tariff policy leads to large losses at
Ukrzaliznytsia. In particular, coal companies’ debts to the carrier for
coal transportation by rail have reached UAH 400 million.
Vinsky said that irrespective of the EBRD’s position, Ukrzaliznytsia should be reformed.
He also said that the hampering of reforms force the railways to use
more expensive ways of financing compared to loans from European banks.
“Someone wants to bring Ukrzaliznytsia to bankruptcy and buy it at a cheap price,” he said.
