The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on October 19 appointed Poland`s former Minister of Transport Slawomir Nowak head of the State Motorway Agency (Ukravtodor).
”Our position is that high-quality roads, highways that will connect us with Europe should be built in Ukraine, therefore we have to improve the professional level of Ukravtodor,” said Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman, while presenting Nowak.
In turn, Nowak said that, as Poland’s minister of transport, he was responsible for the strategy of development of the transport sector, as well as for attracting investment ahead of Euro-2012. He also pointed out that he had worked on reforming Polish Railways. According to Nowak, his main tasks in Ukravtodor will be to attract foreign investment and foreign companies to participate in tenders for road construction.
”We need to quickly conduct a technical audit of the roads and improve technical standards. We also need to quickly draft a plan for the construction and reconstruction of roads based on traffic,” he said
In turn, Ukraine’s Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelyan added that the new head must fill Ukravtodor with ”European content”.
It should be noted that Nowak served as the Minister of Transport of Poland from 2011 to 2013. During this period, Nowak was involved in several media scandals. In particular, in 2013, he resigned following a scandal with his Ulysse Nardin watches worth $5,500 that he failed to declare among his assets. Polish investigative journalists accused Novak of close contacts with businesses, as well as tax fraud.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on June 1, the Cabinet of Ministers dismissed Ukravtodor head Andriy Batishchev, appointing his former first deputy Yevgeny Barakh an acting head.
