A regular meeting of the Commission for Inspection of Bridge Structures was held on July 14 chaired by Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine and Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development, regional military administration and the Kyiv City Military Administration, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories, the State Border Guard Service, the State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development, the State Inspectorate for Architecture and Urban Development, the State Emergency Service, Ukrzaliznytsia and scientists from the SE DerzhdorNDI.
According to the Commission’s work plan, local governments, the State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development and Ukrzaliznytsia, as balance holders, submitted the available technical documentation on the condition of the bridges. As of July 13, the Commission had received data on 22,454 bridges, but information on more than 6,000 structures was missing. Their condition is currently unknown.
The Commission’s preliminary findings indicate that almost 10% of Ukraine’s bridge structures are in a state of disrepair. Among them are two large bridges with high traffic intensity located in Kyiv. These are the Paton Bridge and the Metro Bridge.
“The first analysis of technical documentation and bridge inspection reports showed a critical situation with the state of bridge structures in Ukraine. This is an unacceptable situation for the physical safety of Ukrainians, as well as for the defence capability and economy of Ukraine as a whole. As the head of the Inspection Commission, I am instructing to immediately start inspecting bridges across major rivers that are in a state of disrepair. Our task is to find out the real state of affairs as soon as possible and prepare appropriate proposals to systematically address the problems and prevent them in the future,” said Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov.
The Commission’s experts will begin visual and instrumental inspections of bridge structures that are in a state of disrepair.
The Commission for Inspection of Bridge Structures was set up pursuant to the decision of the National Security and Defence Council and enacted by a Presidential Decree. It is headed by Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine and Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development. (Government portal/Business World Magazine)