The discussion of the National Transport Strategy of Ukraine till 2030 was held in Mariupol under the chairmanship of Viktor Dovgan, the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure for European Integration. It is based on European standards of the best European experience. Vadym Boichenko, the Mayor, is confident that Mariupol should occupy a key place in it.
During the discussion of the strategy, the subject ministry was told about the transport problems of Mariupol. According to the Mayor, Mariupol has become a deadlock on the map of the country, a peninsula that is difficult to reach. There is a need for full-fledged transport and railroad connections with high-quality road and rolling stock, airport opening and port development, as well as increasing the throughput through the Kamysh-Zorya station.
“Mariupol is a city with great potential and enormous opportunities. We want our plans to be reflected in Ukraine's transport strategy, in order to make Mariupol a key position in it, so that concrete and immediate time periods will arise when we disassemble the transport junction at the throat of Mariupol”, - Vadym Boichenko emphasized.
The Mayor is convinced that without the government's support in resolving the city's infrastructure problems it is impossible to develop Mariupol fully, attracting foreign investment and work of city-forming enterprises to full capacity.
According to Yan Valent, the key expert of the EU technical assistance project, Ukraine should focus on European experience geared towards passengers. That is, everyone has the right to receive high-quality and safe services from passenger carriers. At the same time, he noted that the Strategy should take into account how different types of transport will interact with each other in order to improve the logistics of the city and the country as a whole.
During the discussions of the Strategy, Oleksandr Holtvenko, the First Deputy Mayor, spoke about the main directions of the city's transport infrastructure development. He emphasized that about 50 thousand internally displaced persons lived in Mariupol: “The load has increased on both municipal transport and intercity directions. And most of the complaints of passengers relate to the poor state of the Mariupol-Zaporozhye route and cars in the trains departing from Mariupol”.
At the same time, Vadym Boichenko stressed that it wass very important for the city to understand the terms of solving the problems of the transport interchange of Mariupol.
“If we want Mariupol to play out in fresh colors and the diversification of economy to take place, then it is impossible without infrastructure development”, - the Mayor noted.
