On Wednesday, May 4, Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman got acquainted with the repair work at the section of Kyiv - Znamianka highway.

"One of the priorities of the work of the Government and relevant Ministries, and Ukravtodor is to cope with the problems on Ukrainian roads. The task is extremely important and extremely difficult because road sector and roads in Ukraine are in critical condition," said Volodymyr Groysman, examining the state of repairs.

According to him, Ukraine needs to build a strategy for the road development. "The most important thing we have to do – to draw up a strategy for the development of Ukrainian roads. We have not just to build kilometers [of roads], we have to understand from where an automobile corridor will be built, how this corridor will affect the development of our State. It is very important to develop our transport capacity, logistics potential, which Ukraine possesses," stressed Volodymyr Groysman.

The Prime Minister noted that it had been allocated about UAH20 billion for the current repair of roads in Ukraine in 2016, and May-June would see the start of current and mid-term road repair across Ukraine.

"We will do the mid-term repair in order to resuscitate Ukrainian roads. You will see that the situation is to be rectified within a few months," noted Volodymyr Groysman.

The Prime Minister said that the repair of roads foresees consolidated resources provided from the state budget, the Regional Development Fund, the credit balances of funds attracted under the state guarantees in 2012-2013, funds from the international financial institutions (EBRD, EIB, IBRD), local budgets, revenues of which have significantly increased due to fiscal decentralization, as well as a special fund of local budgets from extra customs revenues.

In this regard, the Prime Minister expressed the need to start simultaneous improving of the condition of roads in all regions of Ukraine. According to him, the Ministries, Ukravtodor and regional structures are responsible for this.

"Kyiv and other cities of Ukraine should see major road repairs due to the increase of funds on the ground," said Volodymyr Groysman. “By combining this resource, we can make a very serious step forward on restoring order on the roads of Ukraine. It takes time," he emphasized, urging local companies to participate in tenders and continue repairing roads.

However, the Prime Minister underlined the need to effectively and efficiently use resources allocated for road maintenance, "The most important thing is not just to accumulate money but to provide completely transparent, public use of these funds," he noted.

Volodymyr Groysman separately emphasized the necessity of maintaining high quality of road repair or construction. According to him, it is necessary to ensure the monitoring of works and use of the allocated funds. In his turn, the Prime Minister harshly reacted to cases of poor maintenance and abuse in road construction.

"I use the same roads, and see their current condition. The quality of works that we sometimes see across Ukraine does not suit me and I believe the majority of Ukrainians as well. We will oblige road maintenance services to work with new quality," he stressed.