Ukrainian parliament amends law on industrial parks

The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, has adopted amendments to the law "On Industrial Parks" aimed at attracting investment in the industrial sector of the economy by introducing incentives in industrial parks.

According to an Ukrinform correspondent, 290 MPs voted for a respective bill, No. 4416-1, at its second reading.

According to the explanatory note, the purpose of the law is to "promote direct investment in the creation of new industries through the mechanism of industrial parks to transform them into a driving force of economic and industrial development by introducing a number of investment incentives that meet current global trends and increase the competitiveness of domestic industrial parks."

In particular, the document provides for the introduction of compensation to management companies, initiators of creation – business entities and participants in industrial parks in the amount of 50% of the cost of connection to power grids. The document also introduces compensation to participants in industrial parks for interest payments on loans.

It is expected that the law will help reveal the potential of industrial parks as an effective mechanism for overcoming problems in industry and the consequences of the current economic crisis in Ukraine caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the incentives provided by the document should help increase the level of employment and reduce the outflow of qualified personnel abroad, increase real incomes of citizens, increase non-raw material output and export, increase revenues to state and local budgets and funding of social initiatives, create a favorable investment climate, and ensure the growth of foreign economic activity.

The creation of industrial parks has been identified as a strategically important task in 2021 as part of the president's Great Construction program. In 2021, the government will invest almost UAH 80 million in developing the infrastructure of four industrial parks.

Industrial parks are a part of a city that is allocated for industrial use, not for household or commercial purposes. Industrial parks can contain plants, ports, warehouses, logistics centers, or factories.