Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Community Development and Territories Denys Shmyhal has announced the reform of the construction industry in Ukraine until the end of 2020.

"The construction industry will be reformed before the end of this year. It will be connected with many factors: with the insurance factor, with the certification factor of specialists, with the transition to European design standards, technical standards and norms. This all requires a lot of effort. We know what to do and we're doing it. We have a lot of allies and experts in this reform," Shmyhal said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

The deputy prime minister emphasized that the construction market in Ukraine is one of the fastest growing and most successful, therefore, improving the construction industry in terms of norms, standards, specialists and the absence of corruption is a priority for the authorities. Regarding the issue of construction conflicts, Shmyhal noted that the reform in the construction sector would be very similar to the reform of decentralization.

"It will be very easy to put a question why someone's rights are being violated at the local level. That is, the state should be included when an undisguised crime occurs. There are no illegal construction projects all over the world, because people understand that to build illegally it's just like stealing a wallet from someone and it is a prison term," he stressed.

The deputy prime minister said that the government is now making a system that will prevent "even good developers, architects, contractors from entering illegal schemes."

To a clarifying question whether this means that since 2021 there will be no new illegal construction projects in Ukraine, Shmyhal emphasized that "we are working and are doing everything to ensure that they do not exist."

As reported, the President's program "Big Construction" will start on March 1 and provides for large-scale construction and major repairs of schools, kindergartens, reception wards of hospitals, stadiums and roads throughout the country. Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk said that in each region of Ukraine, the heads of regional state administrations are responsible for the timely start and implementation of the "Big Construction" project.