Moratorium on timber exports, restoration of the airport, bridge to Romania - issues to be considered at the regional council session

On Friday, June 6, members of the Odesa Regional Council will gather for a regular plenary session.

According to the order of the Chairman of the Regional Council, Hryhoriy Didenko, the twenty-seventh session of the eighth convocation will begin at 10 am in the session hall of the Regional Council.

The agenda includes 23 issues related to the activities of the regional council and its bodies, budget and finance, programs, concepts and urban planning, and jointly owned objects of territorial communities of villages, towns and cities in the region. In addition, the deputies will have to consider land issues and issues within the competence of the regional council. They will also be asked to support deputy appeals.

One of the appeals concerns the extension of the moratorium on the export of timber (unprocessed wood) abroad. In November 2025, the moratorium expires, which, according to the initiators of the appeal, representatives of the For the Future political party, will inevitably lead to massive exports of unprocessed timber abroad, the closure of hundreds of small and medium-sized woodworking enterprises, the loss of thousands of jobs, and billions of hryvnias in revenue losses to local budgets, primarily rural communities.

In addition, the deputies must approve the Action Plan for the implementation of the Strategy for the Restoration and Development of Odesa Oblast for the period 2021-2027 in 2025-2027, which, among other things, provides for the reopening of the airport in Izmail and the construction of a bridge in the village of Orlivka across the Danube to Romania.

Half a billion hryvnias are needed to implement the project to restore the air port, which has been out of operation for 15 years. The regional council plans to raise UAH 90 million for the first part in 2025, another UAH 235.9 million in 2026, and another UAH 200 million in 2027. The document emphasizes that the success of the project depends on timely funding from the state budget and international funds. The project partners are the Odesa Regional State Administration, Izmail Airport, the State Border Guard Service, airlines, pilot schools, and international organizations.

The construction of a bridge crossing over the Danube River to provide road communication between Ukraine and Romania could cost UAH 12.6 billion, which is also planned to be received in three stages: in 2025 - UAH 1 billion, in 2026 - UAH 3.7 billion, in 2027 - UAH 7.5 million. The partners of this project are the State Agency for Infrastructure Recovery and Development of Ukraine and private business. The Reniia community will also be involved in this project, which will facilitate the issuance of the necessary permits and urban planning documentation, as well as attract investors.

Among other things, the deputies are to approve the List of 23 objects of joint ownership of the territorial communities of the region to be privatized, and to remove the name of Yurii Olesha from the name of the Odesa Yurii Olesha Young Spectator Theater. The theater is proposed to be called simply "Odesa Theater for Young Viewers".

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