DOHA: The State of Qatar and Ukraine have signed a concession agreement for the development and operation of the Ukrainian port of Olvia.
The agreement was signed between QTerminals Qatar, QTerminals S.C. Olvia, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, and the State Enterprise Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA), at a virtual signing ceremony in Doha and Kiev via videoconferencing.
Minister of Transport and Communications H E Jassim Saif Ahmed Al-Sulaiti and the Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Kryklii witnessed the signing of the agreement.
The term of the contract is 35 years, until 2056, during which QTerminals will invest about $140mn to develop the port over the next five years provided that $3.5mn out of that amount is allocated for the restoration of local infrastructure of Mykolaiv, the city where the port is located.
The event was also attended by Chairman of Qatar Navigation (Milaha) Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, Qatar’s Ambassador to Ukraine Hadi bin Nasser Al Hajri and Ukraine’s Ambassador to Qatar Andrii Kuzmenko.
The agreement was initialed by QTerminals Qatar CEO Neville Bissett, QTerminals SC Olvia Executive Director Mohammed Al Lahham, and Ukrainian State Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure Buchko Volodymyr.
During the first five years of the concession, QTerminals will invest in establishing a new fully-equipped grain terminal, improve existing warehouses, modernize the road and telecommunications networks and all Olvia utilities and buildings, and set up silos and loading equipment for all modes of transportation, such as railway and freight lines.