The Infrastructure Ministry of Ukraine has refuted the statement of Director General of Nibulon company Oleksiy Vadatursky that the ministry doubts whether the implementation of the Dnipro River dredging project and the provision of funds for the project is appropriate.

"This statement is untrue, as well as the statement of Head of Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) Volodymyr Klymenko that dredging the Dnipro River is not interesting for anyone. The ministry several times paid attention to the importance of dredging shallows of Dniprovsky and Dniprodzerzhynsky water reservoirs both in public and at meetings with representatives of Nibulon and UGA," the ministry said in a press release.

The press service of the ministry said that the Dnipro River dredging project was drawn up by Ukrrichtransproject LLC under the order of Nibulon company in 2013 and it had not been realized until 2015 due to the absence of financing.

"In 2015, the ministry settled the issue of financing: it is agreed that the required sum [UAH 50 million] will be projected by Ukrainian Sea Port Authority state enterprise as repayable financial aid to Ukrvodshliakh state enterprise, which would carry out dredging works. Taking into account the fact that works of this difficulty on these sections of the river were not conducted earlier, Ukrainian law foresees several agreements and examinations," the ministry said.

At present, six agreements have been received from the interested power agencies.

"Today the reason for delaying the final agreement is not the absence of communications between the ministry, as Vadatursky said, but flaws in the project presented by Nibulon. Ukrderzhbudekspertyza state enterprise sent justifiable remarks regarding flaws of the project. On September 4, the projector is to present the revised documents, and then the project is to be finally approved by experts and the Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry is to issue the state ecological expert evaluation," reads the report.

The ministry approved the revised schedule of dredging works under the project on August 25.