By KYIV. Jan 5 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Onur, one of the largest companies in the construction and repair of roads in Ukraine, in 2022, due to the war, reduced the amount of work by 90% and froze the implementation of almost all large-scale road infrastructure projects, General Coordinator of Onur Group Ukraine Emre Karaahmetoglu said in an interview with NV publication.
"Despite the war, some projects were still completed: roads in Khmelnytsky region and sections of the Kyiv-Kharkiv highway, which had been built since 2019, were completed. Both projects were funded by the World Bank," Karaahmetoglu said.
He also said that since the beginning of the war, the company has been expanding approaches to customs points in the west of the country, since the end of May it has been building a new Irpen bridge near Kyiv, and has also been working in Kharkiv region after its de-occupation, where it is carrying out emergency work to restore roads.
Karaahmetoglu added that the company recently won a tender for the construction of three bridges in Kyiv region, which is financed by the UK Export Finance.
According to him, if not for the war, the company would have opened a new hotel in the center of Lviv, under which a building was purchased last year and reconstruction began. "After the war, we will quickly complete work on this project," he said.
The general coordinator also said that already during the war, Onur Group acquired several land plots in the city of Lviv and Lviv region and is thinking about what projects can be implemented.
Karaahmetoglu said that among other investment plans of the company in Ukraine are mining, green energy, where Onur already has 150 megawatts from solar plants, and an agricultural direction with processing. "We have a small, about 5,000 hectares plot in western Ukraine. We plan to double it. And then start processing foodstuffs," he said.
The Onur representative added that before the war, the company ordered equipment for sand quarrying in Lviv region and lines for the production of bridge beams at the company’s concrete plant in the west of the country, and said that it would be installed immediately after the war.
According to him, after the victory of Ukraine, Onur also intends to complete such large-scale projects as the construction of the Zaporizhia Bridge and the reconstruction of the runway at the Dnipro airport, and also initiates the construction of the Stryi-Mukachevo toll road, already developing technical documentation for it.
"Toll roads are the future. They will be in demand after the end of the war. In my opinion, this project should be dealt with now," Karaahmetoglu said.
The representative of the company said that the fleet of machinery in Ukraine is about 4,000 units, as well as 20 asphalt plants, 15 concrete plants, 15 enterprises for the production of base, but several plants were lost during the war. Onur Group Ukraine currently employs about 2,000 people.
According to the information on the company’s Facebook, it works in nine industries, last year they performed road works in Moldova.
Onur Group is ranked 82nd in the ranking of the 250 largest contractors in the world according to the ENR 2022 publication.
