The first auctions for the purchase of services for demining agricultural land will be held in March
27 February 2025 08:49
The Center for Humanitarian Demining has announced auctions for the procurement of services for the demining of agricultural land based on applications submitted by farmers this year. The first three auctions will be held in the Prozorro system in the first half of March. This was reported by the Government Portal, "Komersant Ukrainian" informs.
The bidding will determine the final price offer and the winners, with whom the Humanitarian Demining Center will sign demining agreements.
“More than a hundred applications for participation in the compensation program have already been submitted by Ukrainian farmers. Over the next two weeks, the winners will be selected to clear more than 470 hectares in Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions,” said Yulia Svyrydenko, Minister of Economy of Ukraine.
It is reported that the expected cost of clearing 472.4 hectares will be UAH 28.1 million. The bidding will be held in a classic English auction with three rounds of lowering the starting price.
Volodymyr Baid, director of the Humanitarian Demining Center, explained that the cost of demining one hectare depends on the level of contamination. For example, on the largest area declared for demining in Kharkiv region, which is 392.1 hectares, abandoned ammunition was found. The cost of clearing such areas will be lower compared to areas where mines or unexploded ordnance have been found.
“Different levels of contamination, the type of terrain (in particular, the degree of inclination), the presence of vegetation and its type affect the final price of the work,” said the director of the Humanitarian Demining Center.
How the program of compensation for the cost of demining agricultural land works
This project was launched in September last year. The state compensates 100% of the cost of demining agricultural land that is only planned to be cleared and 80% of the cost of demining work carried out between February 24, 2022 and April 15, 2024. This year’s budget allocates one billion hryvnias for the compensation program.
During the program’s operation, 47 agreements were signed to clear more than 9,000 hectares of agricultural land. As of February, the operators have completed the cleanup of sites under 6 agreements with a total area of over 668.3 hectares.
There is still a lot of work to be done
According to the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, mines and other explosive devices left on Ukrainian territories by the Russians cause annual losses of $11.2 billion, which is equivalent to 5.6% of Ukraine’s GDP in 2021.
Chernihiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, and Kharkiv regions lost about 20% of their regional GDP during Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
The World Bank estimates that nearly $35 billion will be needed to demine the entire territory of Ukraine.
About 1 billion people in the world are experiencing food shortages as a result of Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine.
Ukraine is being helped to clear land of mines and shells
The day before, it became known that foreign partners will provide Ukraine with 700 million euros for demining equipment by 2034. This is envisaged by the long-term plan for the development of Ukraine’s demining capacity for 2024-2034. The announcement was made at the eleventh meeting of the Coalition for Demining, which was held in Vilnius under the chairmanship of Lithuania and Iceland. The event was attended by 40 officials from 15 countries.
