February 7, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine hosted a meeting on mechanisms to provide support to Ukrainian manufacturers of specialized road machinery with First Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Stepan Kubiv as Chair.

"To ensure large-scale construction of roads in Ukraine we need a range of different road equipment, and Ukraine has production facilities for at least 15 groups of such machinery. Therefore, we propose to direct around UAH 500 million as the state support to provide for Ukrainian enterprises an opportunity to upgrade their facilities and boost production," Stepan Kubiv emphasized.

He added that the developed mechanism will allow to encourage the modernizing of industrial capacities of road building enterprises due to partial compensation of the cost of road construction machinery produced in Ukraine and interests on loans for the purchase of such equipment. The mechanism will be similar to the program of compensation for the cost of agricultural machinery, as it will work on the ‘money follows the client’ principle. Thus, the decision as to what equipment to buy and when will be taken by the buyer, choosing from the list of Ukrainian manufacturers approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

"It is a fact that enterprises engaged in road construction activities often take loans for the purchase of a large number of road construction machinery. Therefore, support in the form of partial compensation of the cost or interest on loans for domestic production should increase its competitive advantages with respect to imported analogues," Stepan Kubiv emphasized.

Moreover, he emphasized that, on the proposal of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the source for financing of the above-mentioned initiative may be the Road Fund.