Kolesnikov: Kharkiv to get UAH 200 m in December as part of preparations for Euro 2012

Kharkiv will receive about UAH 200 million in December 2011 as part of its preparations for Euro 2012, Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure Minister Borys Kolesnikov has said.

"You see what the situation with the budget is like... A new runway was built for Kharkiv, which is much more expensive [than roads]. We allocated as much money as we could for the roads. We'll allocate the funds in March-April if we have time, but you see what the situation on global financial markets is like. I think that we'll allocate about UAH 200 million in December. What we failed to do will be done in March and April," he told journalists in Kharkiv on Tuesday.

Kolesnikov noted that UEFA's chief operating officer, Martin Kallen, had predicted that "it will take 40 years to build roads" in Ukraine.

"I think that we will build them in ten years," Kolesnikov said.

As reported, First Deputy Mayor of Kharkiv Oleksandr Kryvtsov said that Kharkiv had received about UAH 500 million less than expected from the state budget on the city's preparations for Euro 2012.