Minister Concerned Over Lack of Railways Reform Plan From New CEO

The Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelyan has not yet received a plan for reforms from the newly appointed Head of Ukrzaliznytsia Wojciech Balczun, he said in an interview to Ekonomichna Pravda.

Answering the question about whether he discussed the kidnapping of the Head of Ukrainian Railways Power Supply Department Valeriy Liudmyrskyi with Balczun, Minister Omelyan said that he did, but there are also more general issues to be discussed between them, namely the plan of reforms.

"I want to finally receive an action plan for reforms with clear deadlines, so that I would know who is doing what and in what timeframe," the Minister said. He noted that currently the plan exists as a modification of the presentation that Balczun made when applying for the position, but he "has not seen a comprehensive plan yet, although I have been asking for it for two months."

"I get distracted by Ukrzaliznytsia a lot. Although I hoped that we’d have professional management, and we’d back each other up and move to the common goal," the Minister noted.

Ukrzaliznytsia ended 2015 with over ₴16 billion losses, almost all of which were caused by the devaluation of the hryvnia. On April 12, it was announced that Polish citizen Wojciech Balczun won the competition to become the new Head of Ukrzaliznytsia. Balczun was previously the head of Polish PKP Cargo railway company.

Source: Ekonomichna Pravda