Special status for Euro-2012-hosting cities

The Association of Ukrainian Cities (AMU) has drafted a law on temporary status for Euro-2012-hosting cities, AMU president and Dnipropetrovsk mayor Ivan Kulychenko told a press conference in Kyiv. He said that the Parliamentary Commission on State Construction and Self-Government is still adding finishing touches to the draft, after which it will be submitted to parliament. Kulychenko noted that this bill is meant to grant special status to the Euro-2012-hosting cities, along with some other preferences, but only for the duration of the preparations for the soccer championships, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

Kulychenko commented on certain clauses, noting that the rate of transfers from the Euro-2012-hosting municipal budgets to the central budget must not exceed local income growth rates. He also said that special attention should be paid to fines for polluting on the eve of the soccer championships. He said that in 2007 businesses in Dnipropetrovsk paid a total of 47 million hryvnias in fines, of which 4.7 million was channeled to the municipal budget.

Oleksandr Lukianchenko, the head of the Donetsk City State Administration, said that the city’s number-one stadium will be ready to host soccer meets before the first quarter of 2009, and that Donetsk will host Euro-2009 (soccer championships for players under 19 years old) that same year. Three hotels are under construction and the foundations have been poured for another two.

Kulychenko said that three sites have been allocated for hotel construction projects in Donetsk, and that construction works are underway on two sites. He added that the city administration is negotiating the construction of a five-star hotel with Hyatt International. The final decision is expected two months from now. “None of these hotel projects is being built with government funds. These are all investment projects. We have more business proposals coming than we are able to allocate sites quickly.”