JSC UkrGasVydobuvannya improves communication with communities and local authorities

Jun 21, 2018 | Category: Official
JSC UkrGasVydobuvannya improves communication with communities and local authorities

Last week, representatives of the Land Relations Department of JSC UkrGasVydobuvannya held in Kharkiv a series of events aimed at establishing mutually beneficial partnerships with the local communities, representatives of local authorities, the public and journalists.

Earlier in the week, representatives of the Land Relations Department of JSC UkrGasVydobuvannya held a public hearing in Kharkiv according to the EIA procedure to extend the special permit for subsoil use of Druzhelyubivskyi field located in Kharkiv region. Pursuant to the Law of Ukraine on Environmental Impact Assessment, the hearing initiator the was the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine.

These are the first hearings aimed at further extension of the special permit for subsoil use. According to the law, JSC UkrGasVydobuvannya shall inform the public of the environmental impact assessment for the Company planned activities. During the presentation, the participants were informed that in case of further industrial development of Druzhelyubivskyi hydrocarbon production, environmental measures are planned to be implemented, which include the prevention and reduction of air and water pollution.

With the special permit and the opportunity to carry out natural gas extraction, local residents will receive additional revenues to local budgets at the expense of rent payments.

More: For today, JSC UkrGasVydobuvannya has started 93 environmental impact assessment procedures, of which 52 procedures for special permits and 38 for drilling. Six procedures will be considered at the next stage – public debates regarding EIA reports.

While continuing to improve the communications, representatives of the Land Relations Department of JSC UkrGasVydobuvannya arranged a themed business luncheon with the specialists of the Company, representatives of local authorities, journalists and public activists.

They discussed the transparent management of funds from rent payments directed to the local budgets as a result of natural gas extraction.

During the event, the representative of NGO ‘Nova Enerhiya’ presented the project aimed at monitoring use of proceeds from rent payments at local level. Thus, on the example of Chkalov territorial community located in Kharkiv region, results of the distribution of local budget funds from rent payments were demonstrated.

More: For the first four months, the Company allocated almost UAH 5 million to the local budget of Chkalov united territorial community.

Yevhen Vasylenko, Manager of Environmental Risk Management Projects of the Environmental Management and Internal Audit Department of the Environmental Protection and Radiation Safety Directorate at JSC UkrGasVydobuvannya, presented the possibilities of using open data to monitor actual expenditures of the local budgets. He shared the example of the official Public Finance Portal of Ukraine and demonstrated the possibility of tracking revenues and expenditures of the budget funds at the level of each individual payment. He also explained the possibility of creating interactive information tools for familiarizing the community with the actual flow of budget funds.

Analysis of the rent payments distribution in Kharkiv region during business luncheon is a very important issue for the Company. After all, only for the first four months UAH 195 million were allocated to the budgets of different levels in Kharkiv region, and according to forecasts for the year this amount will amount to about UAH 593 million.

The Company is interested in the funds being allocated on the implementation of social infrastructure projects. Representatives of JSC UkrGasVydobuvannya attract public activists, journalists and representatives of local authorities to popularize the rent distribution and public awareness campaign among the population.

This week precisely, representatives of the Land Relations Department held working sessions with the heads of administrations, district and village councils, deputies of Hadiach and Kotelva districts, Poltava region. They discussed the key problem of districts – renovation of country roads.

To solve the above described issue, the share participation mechanism involving JSC UkrGasVydobuvannya, district administrations, district and village councils in road renovation has been approved, and also the creation of working teams for inspection of road problem areas along routes of technological transport of JSC UkrGasVydobuvannya has been agreed.

At the same time, changing approaches to management and increasing work efficiency, the Company representatives demonstrate readiness to establish mutually beneficial partnership, which will enable the targets to be reached – the 20/20Program.

Partnership for progress!