No to Ukraine privatisation
05 Jan 2012
The president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, has blocked legislation that would have led to wholescale privatisation of the country's ports.
The refusal follows 10 years of debate and fierce political argument.
"The ports’ law is far from being considered ideal. We therefore reserve the right to revise and rework it," said infrastructure minister Boris Kolesnikov.
He added that, for the moment, the state would continue to retain control of what happens on the docks, while pointing out that there is already a large degree of privatisation in respect of terminal operators, who control at least 35% of port business, rising to 80% in the case of Odessa.
