“Don’t stop, or you’ll stick to it!”: how Groysman inspected the quality of road repairs in Vinnytsia region

“Don’t stop, or you’ll stick to it!”: how Groysman inspected the quality of road repairs in Vinnytsia region

To see Volodymyr Groysman walking on freshly laid asphalt somewhere toward Lityn, two dozen Vinnytsia journalists and camera operators literally had to break a sweat.

First — in a classic Bogdan shuttle bus from the Regional State Administration, in which the media had to stand. Then — a thorough inspection of every gap in their backpacks by State Security Service personnel already on the road. After that — about 40 more minutes of waiting under an almost summer sun on the hot asphalt. Until a convoy of city and regional council officials appeared on the horizon, and then the cavalcade of the prime minister’s cars and his escort.

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Unlike most officials, Volodymyr Groysman stepped onto the new asphalt wearing fashionable brown shoes with white soles and jeans.

Standing out from the rest of the delegation was acting head of the State Agency of Motor Roads of Ukraine Sławomir Nowak — primarily because of his build and “Western” appearance.

The head of the Cabinet, accompanied by Vinnytsia mayor Serhiy Morgunov and Regional State Administration head Valeriy Koroviy, was, as usual, led to a display stand where head of the Road Service in Vinnytsia region Ihor Korolchuk spoke about the region’s road achievements and upcoming plans.

Groysman was most interested in the construction of the Vinnytsia section of the international Go Highway — this road is supposed to connect Ukrainian ports with the Baltic Sea. Also of interest was the route toward Haisyn. As it turned out, this year Vinnytsia region received a record 1,7 billion hryvnias from the state budget for road repairs and construction, and in total 2,4 billion hryvnias will be spent on these needs, including funds from local budgets and money obtained through the customs experiment.

“Currently, main efforts are focused on certain sections of the M-12 and M-21 routes. At the same time, the main works on the Haisyn route will be carried out next year,” Korolchuk said.

As the head of the Service promised, this year in particular the major overhaul of the road toward Khmelnytskyi will be completed, and while in Ternopil region Groysman already announced that by 2019 the road toward Uman will be repaired.

The map shows which roads in Vinnytsia region will be repaired this year

According to Korolchuk, of the planned road works for this year already 20-25% of their volume has been completed, and 8-9 contractors are working on different sections of the route, competing with each other. As for which roads should be repaired first, the Road Service consults with the heads of local district state administrations:

“First of all we pay attention to those roads that ensure the operation of social infrastructure: access roads to outpatient clinics, schools, etc. We already see how infrastructure grows around new quality roads: entrepreneurs buy up land, build gas stations, parking for TIRs, and so on. In other words, jobs are created there, those lands come to life,” Korolchuk insists and claims that these new roads “will last at least 10 years.”.

When the conversation turned to contractors, Groysman complained about one of the Chinese contractors who, despite existing stereotypes about Chinese manufacturers, takes a very long time to start work on another section of the route.

As soon as the delegation left the display stand, two Israeli residents who happened to be there ran up to Volodymyr Groysman. Exchanging a few words with the prime minister in Hebrew, the young men asked to take a selfie with Groysman.

Eventually, the prime minister decided to walk on the still-hot asphalt himself:

“Don’t stop, or you’ll stick to it and remain on this road,” Groysman said rather symbolically while walking, although it was unclear to whom exactly he was speaking. Near one of the largest pavers — he couldn’t resist and climbed into the cabin.

Behind him — a crowd of photojournalists and camera operators who literally swarmed the machine even though it kept moving. Groysman, however, did not take the wheel; he simply spoke with the workers and shook each of their hands.

While approaching the press, the head of the Cabinet again emphasized that this year an unprecedented 47 billion hryvnias have been allocated in Ukraine for repairs and construction of new roads. “This figure will grow, but the main thing is to use these funds effectively,” the prime minister said. He added that today the country’s roads are divided into two categories: “those that Groysman’s government has already done, and those that Groysman’s government has not yet done.”

Answering journalists’ questions about possible coalition formats ahead of the parliamentary elections — specifically the likely alliance of Groysman with Yatsenyuk and Avakov was discussed — Volodymyr Borysovych answered rather diplomatically.

“When the electoral campaign begins — and it will last only three months — you will learn all the partners. For now I can say that I have good relations with Arseniy Yatsenyuk and with the Petro Poroshenko Bloc,” Groysman said and went on to inspect other roads, without naming Petro Poroshenko himself.

Photo by Andriy ZaverTanyy