Ukrzaliznytsia head submits resignation
Ukrzaliznytsia Board Chairman Wojciech Balczun has submitted resignation for personal reasons, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has said, opening a government meeting in Kyiv on Wednesday.
"He made this decision himself. This is his decision and I respect his decision," he said.
Groysman said that the government intends to appoint First Deputy Infrastructure Minister of Ukraien Yevhen Kravtsov acting board chairman. He now heads the supervisory board of Ukrzaliznytsia. He was acting board chairman before Balczun was appointed to the post.
"I want to stress – acting board chairman! We should announce a new tender to select the best candidate to manage this important enterprise at once," the prime minister said.
As reported, former head of Poland's PKP Cargo Balczun was appointed Ukrzaliznytsia board chairman in April 2016 at a tender. Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan was trying to dismiss Balczun in the past several months, accusing him of extremely ineffective management. The minister also initiated dismissal of his first deputy.
The press service of Ukrzaliznytsia told Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday that Balczun is on a business trip to China.
"This was the most complicated and important mission in my life… Initially it was known that this mission would not last forever. I understood that first a burden of organization of the company management would be on my shoulders. The situation I saw was more complicated that I could imagine. Several months flied," Balczun wrote on his Facebook page.
"We have stabilized the company, improved all economic figures, drew up a five-year strategy, restore reputation of the company on the international level, returned to investment and launched new passenger routes," he said.
He said that he failed to do many things, as problems at Ukrzaliznytsia are enormous.
Balczun thanked the prime minister, First Deputy Prime Minister Stepan Kubiv, Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Kistion and head of the supervisory board of Ukrzaliznytsia Kravtsov for support.
