The Ocean Plaza shopping centre in Kyiv and the Odesa Port Plant could both be sold this year, Ukraine's state property chief has announced.
Dmytro Natalukha, the head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, said that keeping non-operational state enterprises in public ownership costs the national budget up to one billion hryvnias every year.
Speaking in an interview with Ukrainian news outlet LIGA.net, Natalukha acknowledged that both the Kyiv shopping complex and the Odesa chemical facility represent highly problematic assets for the government.
Despite the challenges associated with the sites, the state is pushing forward with plans to privatise them in order to curb ongoing maintenance expenses.
Hidden state storage and asset management
Natalukha also revealed that government audits had uncovered extensive warehouse space and underground storage facilities across Ukraine that had not been properly declared.
He accused leaders of certain state bodies of acting like hoarders by intentionally concealing the existence of these public storage spaces from central authorities.
The State Property Fund of Ukraine is the government body tasked with managing public assets, overseeing commercial leases, and administering state privatisations. Its portfolio includes major commercial properties such as Ocean Plaza, a prominent shopping and leisure destination located in central Kyiv.
The Odesa Port Plant is one of Ukraine's largest industrial chemical production facilities, situated on the Black Sea coast near the port of Odesa. The complex primarily produces chemical fertilizers, including ammonia and urea. The annual maintenance costs cited by Natalukha represent a significant drain in Ukrainian hryvnias on state resources.
Foreign investment and long term state control
In his interview with LIGA.net, Natalukha indicated that several foreign countries are currently assessing the Odesa Port Plant for potential commercial investment.
He also addressed historical Russian interest in Ukraine's rare earth mineral deposits and outlined which strategic companies will remain under direct state management over the next five years.
