The State Automobile Roads Agency of Ukraine (Ukravtodor) on August 23, 2016, broke its contract with Italy`s TODINI Costruzioni Generali S.p.a. for the overhaul and renovation of the Lubny-Poltava stretch of the M-03 highway between Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dovzhansky.
The Ukrainian side said the Italian contractor had not performed any activity at the road construction site for over nine months and had attempted to recover compensation from Ukravtodor on ”absolutely groundless claims.”
”It is no secret that we`ve got problems with the M-03 highway. Till the end, we tried to find a compromise with TODINI to resolve the situation and continue repairs. Unfortunately, almost half a year of talks has not yielded the desired result. So, today we acknowledge that we are terminating the contract,” the agency`s press service quoted Ukravtodor`s acting head Yevhen Barakh as saying.
The Italian company failed to meet the project`s deadlines, he noted.
Following the termination of the contract, Ukravtodor decided to conduct an expert assessment of the work already performed and announce a new tender for completion of repairs and reconstruction of the highway.
The agency recalled that the contract with TODINI Costruzioni Generali S.p.a. was signed in January 2013 under a joint project with the World Bank.
Under the contract, the repairs should have been completed in September 2014.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman had stated that the Cabinet plans to spend UAH 18-19 billion on repairs and construction of national highways and local roads in 2016.
