Baltic Journal of Economic Studies (Nov 2017)
TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE OF UKRAINE: THE MODERN REALITIES AND DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS
Abstract
The purpose of the article is to conduct a complex research of the state of transport structure of Ukraine and substantiate prospects of its development. The developed transport system and corresponding infrastructure are a guarantee of high level of the country’s development, increasing the level of its investing attractiveness. Moreover, transport infrastructure serves as a uniting factor in the process of integration. Thus, the main function of transport infrastructure is the formation of external conditions for the management of economic entities. It is determined that the development of a state directly depends on how efficiently it performs management in different spheres. First of all, it concerns transport infrastructure. Today, the global trends necessitate constant perfection of management of transport infrastructure, in particular, investment attraction. The state and development level of transport infrastructure is one of the most important factors of socio-economic development of both member states of the European Union and Ukraine. Transport infrastructure occupies a services market sector with a market share of 75%. And in the macroeconomic context, the share of transport infrastructure in the overall volume of gross domestic product of Ukraine is 7%. In the modern management conditions, a negative dynamics of transportation and its share in the gross domestic product of Ukraine are determined mostly by the influence of economic crisis processes and negative state of development of transport infrastructure of the country. For the evaluation of activities of transport of Ukraine, we used the main indicators of its performance as criteria. The main criteria of performance evaluation of transport are: the volume of cargo transportation, cargo turnover, the ratio of modes of transport in cargo transportation, the volume of passenger transportation, passenger turnover, the cost of transportation, the ratio of passenger and cargo traffic in the economy. Transport, as an infrastructure branch, should provide timely and efficient cargo and passenger transportation and promote the integration of the Ukrainian economy into the European and world economic system. However, the existing unsatisfactory condition of the rolling stock of various types of transport in Ukraine causes a low level of using the potential of Ukraine as a transit state and, accordingly, reduces the competitiveness of the country’s economy. Summarizing the above, it should be noted that the development of the transport infrastructure of Ukraine is largely determined by the ability of authorities to implement systemic institutional changes aimed at conducting reforms. First of all, this concerns the implementation of the policy of European integration. In particular, it is necessary to create favourable conditions for the development of entrepreneurship, to realize the power decentralization and complete the administrative and territorial reform, to ensure further liberalization of foreign economic activity and to increase the efficiency of the use of financial resources allocated by the EU to support economic reforms in our country.
