On February 16-17, Stockholm hosted the Fourth High-Level Dialogue on Ukraine dedicated to transport. The event was attended by representatives of over 20 countries and international organizations.

The pivotal outcome of the gathering was the agreement establishing the Ukraine Transport Support Fund (UTSF). The document was signed by Ukraine, Sweden, Lithuania, and Canada. The event was co-organized by the Swedish government and International Transport Forum (ITF) as part of activities of the Common Interest Group for Transport in Ukraine (CIG4U).

UTSF is launched to finance small and medium projects aimed at restoration of the civil transport infrastructure including road, rail, and waterborne transport facilities, urban mobility, and related infrastructure. The fund’s beneficiary is the Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine.

UTSF has to become a practical tool for urgent response to the sector’s needs and delivery of specific projects during ongoing attacks on the transport infrastructure.

The Ukrainian transport network has suffered major destruction. As estimated by RDNA4, the sector’s direct losses amount to USD 36 billion, economic losses – USD 46 billion, and total reconstruction needs in the following decade are estimated to be USD 77 billion.

In the course of the Dialogue, five more countries, namely Denmark, Germany, Norway, Estonia, and the U.K. signed the joint Declaration to support Ukraine and its transport sector.

Recovery context

Establishment of the UTSF is an essential step in the systemic reconstruction of the Ukrainian transport network that is critical to both economic operations of communities and coordination of humanitarian and project streams.

The recovery scale requires not only financial resources but also strict governance instruments to use them. Implementation of transport projects needs:

• quality preparation of design documents;
• predictable allocation of roles and liability;
• applying international management standards;
• coherent project management.

ICEG is convinced that effective use of international aid largely depends on process decisions and professional project management. It is institutional capacity and standardized approaches that enable to provide a predictable result and mitigate risks in implementation of infrastructure programs.

Restoration of transport is not limited to rebuilding the facilities. It is about formation of a resilient management system able to ensure fast and high-quality delivery of projects in the long-term view.