«The economy will come to life»: Nibulon explained how the demining of the Southern Bug water area will help Mykolaiv

Mykhailo Rizak, director of interaction with authorities of the Nibulon company, believes that demining the Southern Bug water area will help Mykolaiv to «come to life as an economic center of Ukraine.»

He said this in a comment by NikVesti.

«Frankly speaking, the biggest problem of Mykolaiv is not demining of agricultural lands, but demining of the South Bug water area and the launch of the Mykolaiv port hub. Because the launch of logistics, and Mykolaiv was the leader in grain exports, will help Mykolaiv revive as an economic center of Ukraine,» said Mykhailo Rizak.

The opening of the Mykolaiv port hub, he says, will «absolutely radically» change the situation for Mykolaiv farmers.

«Because each farmer currently loses at least 15 dollars on logistics due to the fact that he needs to travel an additional 300-400 kilometers from Mykolaiv to the deep-sea ports of Odessa. If Mykolaiv will be launched, these funds will actually settle with the farmer and he will be able to invest them in improving production and growing more products,» said Mykhailo Rizak.

He also added that the opening of the Mykolaiv ports will affect the economic situation of the company, because before the Great War Nibulon invested more than 600 million in its own fleet in Mykolaiv, the work of which is currently stopped.

«This will significantly improve the economic condition of the company. Since the fleet that worked on the Dnieper and Southern Bug will be able to effectively carry out transportation on the Lower Danube, which is a 600 million investment, and will launch at least 3 of the 14 river ports that were built by Nibulon in the pre-war period,» said Mykhailo Rizak.

Read also the article NikVesti «We didn't wait for them to do it for us»: how in just one year Nibulon demined 98% of its fields in Mykolaiv Oblast.»

Nikolaev ports and war

Currently, the sea ports of the Mykolaiv region are 90% ready for grain export, but without the consent of the Russians, the «grain corridor» will not be able to function, the head of the Mykolaiv RMA Vitalii Kim said. After all, Russia continues to shell Ochakiv daily from the territory of the Kinburn Spit, as it is trying to disrupt the inclusion of the Mykolaiv ports in the «grain agreement», the Southern Defense Forces reported.

Back in the summer of 2023, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the international community to expand the «grain corridor» to Mykolaiv ports. At the same time, the head of Mykolaiv Oblast Vitalii Kim reported that the sea ports of Mykolaiv region are 90% ready for grain export, but without the consent of the Russians, the grain corridor will not be able to function.

As you know, Turkish President Recep Erdogan said that Russia will not prevent the departure of Turkish ships from Mykolaiv Seaport and «Olvia». 29 ships are preparing to leave Mykolaiv ports.

In November 2022, the Ukrainian side officially appealed to the partners of the initiative for safe transportation of agricultural products across the Black Sea with a proposal to extend the initiative for at least 1 year and to join the Mykolaiv port to it.

And in July 2023, the Kremlin announced the suspension of the «grain agreement» brokered by the UN and Turkey last July, which made it possible to unblock three Ukrainian ports for food exports. From that time, Russia began to inflict massive strikes on the port and grain infrastructure of Ukraine, attacking Odesa, Mykolaiv and other port cities.

At the same time, the indicators of the August export of grain from Ukraine in 2023 were at the level of the pre-war indicators of the export of grain by the Mykolaiv Sea Trade Port. For example, during 2021, the port exported about 12 million tons of grain.

Military expert, reserve colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Roman Svitan, said that anti-aircraft missile complexes should be deployed along the coast from Mykolaiv to Reni in order to protect shipping from Russian invaders in the Black Sea.