Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Vladyslav Kryklii held a working meeting with Rolf-Jan Zweep, Senior Vice President and Member of the Board at VDL Groep, today, October 22. The parties discussed possible cooperation in the development of transport infrastructure of Ukraine, in particular electric vehicles.

The meeting was also attended by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Netherlands Vsevolod Chentsov, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure for Digital Development, Digital Transformations and Digitization Anatolii Klimashevsky, President of the Electron Concern Yurii Bubes, representatives of the Ministry and VDL Groep holding.

During the talks, Vladyslav Kryklii said that in the framework of the implementation of the National Transport Strategy of Ukraine until 2030, the Ministry of Infrastructure works closely with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on projects to develop urban electric transport in Ukraine.

Among those, the joint project with the EIB "Ukraine Urban Public Transport I" sees the active phase, thanks to which public transport parks in 11 Ukrainian cities are currently being renovated for a total of EUR 200 million. In addition, the Ministry plans to raise an additional EUR 200 million for the development of environmentally friendly transport through the implementation of the second part of the project with the EIB "Ukraine Urban Public Transport II".

Vladyslav Krykliy focused on the fact that the number of electric cars in Ukraine is constantly growing, so an important issue for the Ministry remains the creation of a developed network of charging infrastructure that would allow electric car owners to move comfortably not only within settlements but also in long-distance traffic.

Therefore, together with specialists and scientists, the Ministry is working on making new changes to the state building codes for planning and development of territories, which would allow the placement of charging stations on all public roads. Currently, the current SBS "Planning and Development of Territories" provides for the mandatory placement of charging stations on the main network of settlements, as well as on highways of national importance. However, their amount have not been specifically determined with taking into account the existing number of electric vehicles and growth in the future. Also, the current regulations do not provide for charging stations on public roads of local importance.

According to the Minister, for the development of the domestic market of electric vehicles, the Government of Ukraine is considering the possibility of creating incentives. Bills №3476 and №3477 have already been registered in the Verkhovna Rada, and provide for a number of tax and customs benefits for the production of electric vehicles in Ukraine. At the same time, business representatives from China, the United States and Germany are interested in the production of electric cars and batteries in Ukraine, but are waiting for preferences from the state. Therefore, the main task of the Ukrainian side in this regard is to create conditions for the creation of domestic manufacturing of the electric car industry.

In turn, Rolf-Jan Zweep announced readiness to cooperate with Ukraine in the development of transport infrastructure and electric transport.