Ukraine opens the door to concession

According to Odessa based legal and consultancy firm, Interlegal, the Resolution is a fundamental step forward in port reform following the adoption of the Law on the Sea Ports of Ukraine coming into force on 14 June 2013. Before this Resolution was adopted, concession was impossible.

Olena Losevska, Interlegal, said: “With regards to the Resolution to realise concession in the port sector there will be a lot to do, but the fact that ports were included into the List of the Concession Objects we may consider a crucial step.”

In effect, the Resolution means that a port can be transferred into concession either as an integral object or integral property complexes. Each such part will be transferred into concession as a separate object correspondingly with The Ministry of Infrastructure as the concessor.

It’s not straight forward though and the Resolution may be difficult to put into practice at present. This is because it doesn’t stipulate any principles of reasonability for such division, which Interlegal says is an issue that needs to be tackled separately.

It’s now down to The Ministry of Infrastructure working jointly with the Ministry of Finances and the Ministry of Economy to develop a Resolution on concession tender and concession agreements.