Due to lines at borders, Ukraine loses millions every day— Infrastructure Ministry of Ukraine

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Customs Service and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine have prepared a joint proposal for Poland. The letter contains eight points that will help resolve the situation at Yahodyn checkpoint, which is currently the busiest border crossing point.  

Mustafa Nayyem, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine made this statement at Media Center Ukraine — Ukrinform.

“As a first point, we suggest considering the possibility of sorting cargo by product groups, which will simplify the cargo clearance procedure. It is also suggested not to carry out sanitary control measures when importing rapeseed, because it is 40-50% of all cargo that is subject to such control. Moreover, the vast majority of this product is in transit through Poland,” — he said.

There is also a suggestion to open new crossing points for the departure of empty vehicles.

“What we have now at the checkpoints is a catastrophic situation. Every day we lose millions of hryvnias due to this downtime,” — Mustafa Nayyem added.

Viacheslav Demchenko, Acting Head of the State Customs Service of Ukraine added that, as of now, the budget’s losses amount to about UAH 55-60 million: “And this is only because of the blocked Yahodyn checkpoint.”

Currently, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and the Ministry of Infrastructure are working together to set up additional checkpoints and optimize the process. For example, the Ministry of Infrastructure, together with the State Service of Ukraine for Transport Safety, is launching a pilot project of an electronic line for drivers: “It will be absolutely free, drivers will not have to be stuck in traffic. In the long term, we need to arrange a service area next to the largest checkpoints.”

Read more: https://mediacenter.org.ua/news