Increased availability of high-quality building materials for Ukraine’s construction industry will be secured following the expansion of Unigran Group with support from the EBRD.
Unigran, the country’s leading producer of granite aggregates, associated building materials and services, will receive an EBRD loan of up to €8.7 million for the acquisition of a new transport fleet, including railcars and trucks. Alongside this, an energy modernisation programme will be implemented.
The investment programme will facilitate the procurement of up to 70 new railcars as well as specialised trucks with GPS tracking software. This will decrease Unigran’s dependence on external transport companies and improve the reliability of product deliveries to customers.
Unigran’s energy modernisation programme is expected to lead to annual energy savings of to 30 per cent and the reduction of 8,130 tonnes in CO2 emissions by 2020.
The demand for granite aggregates in the construction sector of Ukraine is forecast to rise significantly in the next 5 to 7 years. It will be driven by planned construction works in public infrastructure and the residential buildings sector. The loan was supported by the EBRD’s Finance and Technology Transfer Centre for Climate Change (FINTECC) programme with a grant of €17,440, which covered an energy performance assessment and the identification of energy-efficient and resource-efficient opportunities at Unigran Group. FINTECC is designed to transfer technology in the area of climate change mitigation and is supported by the EU Neighbourhood Investment Facility.
The EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. Since the start of its operations in the country in 1993, the Bank has made a cumulative commitment of almost €13.6 billion through 432 projects.
