Cabinet approves new Ukrainian Railways CEO

The Cabinet of Ministers approved Volodymyr Zhmak for
the position of CEO of Ukrainian Railways (RAILUA), Interfax-Ukraine reported
on Aug. 26 citing PM Denys Shmyhal. Before the appointment, Zhmak was the head
of the supervisory board of Ukraine’s largest airport, Boryspil.

After the dismissal of the previous CEO, Yevhen
Kravtsov, in January, the company had two acting CEOs, with the latest one, Ivan Yuryk, appointed in April.
Two weeks ago, Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Krykliy promised that a new
CEO will be appointed on Aug. 19, while media reported that the company’s
supervisory board recommended that the Cabinet appoint Zhmak.

In an interview with the liga.net news site published
on Aug. 26, Zhmak said that his key priority in Ukrainian Railways is the
creation of four vertically integrated and self-sufficient divisions
(infrastructure, passenger transportation, cargo and container transportation)
and spinning off auxiliary divisions. He also plans to improve the quality of
cargo transportation and to offer unified transportation tariffs for all
cargos.  

Alexander Paraschiy: The
company’s previous top manager, Yuryk, who has a financial background, was able
to refinance the company’s biggest debt due in 2020.
Now that the company’s liquidity issue is resolved, it needs a top manager who
will continue its internal transformation and is able to promote regulatory
reforms. Hopefully, Zhmak’s experience in local governments and large
corporations will be helpful in those tasks. Meanwhile, his idea to unify cargo
tariffs will be hard to implement. Thus far, we consider Zhmak’s appointment as
neutral for the company.