Ukraine’s Prime-Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said that the airport privatization – which is a part of the nation’s preparations for Euro-2012 football championship – will not include runways and navigation facilities. The statement came Wednesday during a press-conference following a government meeting.
“Today we’ve sorted out all issues regarding the state ownership of airports and investments in the reconstruction of terminals. Now, we are on a straight road, when it comes to Euro-2012 preparations. In the next few months, we’ll hold transparent and competitive tenders to find investors,” Tymoshenko said.
Tymoshenko stressed that after the airports’ privatization, all the land together with runways will remain with the state. “The state will also retain all security, navigation and flight control functions. The land will be leased, not sold. But all commercial structures – terminals, fueling facilities, shops, warehouses, and air parks – will be offered to investors on terms set by the government,” she said.
According to an earlier UNIAN report, the Transport and Communications Ministry plans to transfer 24 airports from municipal to state ownership.
According to the Ministry, such a step is provided for by an airport development concept recently approved by the government. The airports in question include those in Donetsk, Zhulyany (Kyiv), Odesa, Symferopol, Kharkiv, Vinnytsya (Havryshivka), Ivano-Frankivsk, Kirovohrad, Mykolayiv, Luhansk, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Ternopil, Uzhhorod, Kherson, Khmelnytsky, Chernivtsi, Cherkasy, Izmayil, Mariupol, Kerch, Kryvy Rih, Severodonetsk.
The concept stipulates that the airports in Boryspil, Berdyansk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Lviv should remain in the hands of state.
On March 5 the government has approved a concept of a Special Airport Development Program for the period up till 2020.
The Transport and Communications Minister Yosyp Vinsky said that “we need to restore some airports to state ownership…In some cases, it is completely unclear who owns an airport…We’ll work out a special law and we’ll return them under the law.”
The minister also indicated that the Concept “will make it clear what is state-owned and what will go to private hands.” Air terminals, fueling facilities, and everything that has to do with passenger and air freight services will be privatized. “But runways, safety facilities, flight controls and airport management will remain with the state,” the minister said.
He also said that each airport will have its own development program. According to the Minister, the government will earmark $2.5 billion for airport development. The rest of the necessary funds will be drawn from private investors.
The parliament speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk said that the Verkhovna Rada would not allow the airports’ nationalization. He stressed that without municipal authorities’ consent the local communities could not be deprived of their property. “Government may go as far as to bring even the regional councils themselves under state control,” he added.
According to Deputy Transport Minister Oleksandr Davydov, if the airports remain in municipal ownership, there will be no chance for a coordinated development and services improvement.
