The Dnipropetrovsk underground: light at the end of the tunnel

The agreement about granting a loan for finishing the shortest metro in the world has been signed in Dnipropetrovsk with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Due to the loan, it will be possible to accomplish the construction in four years: four kilometers of underground tunnels will be driven and three stations will be built along the central avenue of Dnipropetrovsk: from the Central Railway Station to the Museum of History. The agreement, according to which the EBRD will allocate 152 million euros, has been signed by the Ukrainian Minister of Finance Yurii Kolobov and head of the Dnipropetrovsk state oblast administration Oleksandr Vilkul. The construction of the underground started in Dnipropetrovsk about 30 years ago, under Brezhnev’s rule, but in December 1995 after the first stage construction had been put in commission, the active work actually stopped. The attempts to revive the construction have been repeatedly made since then but in vain because of severe finance constraints. For instance, this year the builders have managed to dig only 50 meters and they have arrears of wages of more than six months. Now there is a seven-kilometer underground of six stations in Dnipropetrovsk connecting the railway station with the western district of the city. The underground bears significant losses because of small number of passengers. According to the specialists’ estimates, constructing the metro under the city center has to increase the passenger traffic from 10 to 100 million people per year and make the underground profitable. Taking into account the commercial attractiveness of the project, the EBRD gave a loan on exceptionally advantageous conditions with less then 2 percent of annual interest for 15 years. The first payment of the primary loan is to be made in five years and the new underground stations are supposed to be put in commission in four-year time. The loan will be paid off by the Ukrainian government and Dnipropetrovsk will pay only the interest. “We consider this loan to be a short-term one and do not think that paying it off will burden the budget. We hope that the underground will remain absolutely accessible and very efficient means of transport for the inhabitants of Dnipropetrovsk,” director for the municipal and environmental infrastructure of the EBRD Jean-Patrick MARQUET said.

All the works concerning the underground construction have to be absolutely transparent. In two weeks the international tender process to define the contractor to finish the construction will be launched. “Both Ukrainian and foreign companies can participate in bidding. It will finish this autumn and at the beginning of next year a powerful contractor will start work,” head of the Dnipropetrovsk state oblast administration Oleksandr VILKUL explained. In order to ensure the absolute “transparency” a special website will be created and will reflect the underground construction.

The website will allow to learn the tender conditions, its results and get the information about construction stages. Besides, there will be direct transmission through web cameras installed at construction sites. The website will be available in two languages: Ukrainian and English. The company that will win the bidding will commit to perform the whole amount of work according to the estimate or to compensate the difference. The EBRD experts will control bidding and fulfillment of conditions. However, the funding provided by the EBRD is not enough to resolve all the problems of the Dnipropetrovsk underground. It is known that the whole project costs 367 million euros. That is why the European Investment Bank might give another loan of 152 million euros since it has already declared its readiness to do it. Besides, 60 million euros will be allocated from the Ukrainian budget. The Dnipropetrovsk authorities are planning to use this money to connect the underground to the Pivdenny Railway Station. Trains will take passengers to different places in the city on both Dnipro banks from there. Now this possibility is being estimated by the experts from the Prydniprovska Railway. Finishing the metro construction under the city center will give a possibility to start the reconstruction of the main avenue of Dnipropetrovsk.