The role of public-private partnership in transport infrastructure restoration in Ukraine

Problem setting. Significant attention has been paid to the attraction of investments in the development of transport infrastructure in recent years. However, the imple- mentation of modernization projects in this sector has stopped due to military actions on the territory of Ukraine. Public-private partnership projects  could be a good tool for involvement the investment in this field. But public-private agreements are still not fully used in Ukraine.

Recent research and publications analysis.  There has  been an increase in the attention of scientists to the problems of public-private partnership in Ukraine in recent years. Thus, the main provisions of public-private partnership are considered in the works of V. Harbarinina, I. Zapatrina, O. Nikyforuk, A. Pavlyuk, P. Shilepnytskyi, and others.

Highlighting previously unsettled parts of the general problem. Positively assessing the contribution of authors in this area, we note that the role of public-private partnership as a tool for attracting investment in transport infrastructure restoration has not been sufficiently investigated.

The purpose of the article. To substantiate the possibility of using public-private partnership projects to activate the investment processes in transport infrastructure restoration of Ukraine.

Paper main body. The public-private partnership is a cooperation between the government and business for the implementation of certain projects. The business implements the project and receives the profit, and the state receives the infrastructure object. Public-private partnerships can encompass several different types of cooperative agreements. Among the well-known ones, we can mention concession agreements, agreements on product distribution, property management agreements, agreements on joint activities, etc. Most often, public-private partnerships are used for projects of construction of roads, bridges, airports, and stadiums. Actually, these are the objects that have been destroyed in Ukraine and need priority reconstruction and restoration.

Laws regulating the use of public-private partnerships have already been adopted in Ukraine. However, the sphere of public-private partnership needs changes in the legislation, which would allow attracting private investments and bring cooperation between business and the state to a new level.

The objects of transport infrastructure (especially, road infrastructure objects) suffered the most from the war in Ukraine. According to preliminary estimates, in general, 25,000 km of roads  and 315 bridges  of state, local and communal importance were destroyed. For their restoration, it is necessary to attract large amounts of investment. In many countries, the state covers up to 50% of such costs, sometimes the figure is much higher. However, in the current conditions in Ukraine, the possibilities of state financing are limited.

Therefore, the application of the mechanism of public-private partnership in this area should be decisive for the financing of investment projects and the attraction of innovation in the development of the domestic transport infrastructure. The involvement of investments and innovations in the transport infrastructure of Ukraine, in particular, the use of new technologies in the construction and reconstruction of roads, would allow to restore domestic roads, make them more durable, and increase the level of road safety.

Conclusions of the research. In order for the public-private partnership to become an instrument of the attraction of investment in transport infrastructure, it is necessary: to simplify the procedure for the preparation and implementation of public-private partnership projects for the reconstruction of objects destroyed by the war and also to strengthen the innovative component in public-private partnership projects in this area.