Despite its location in the combat area, AKKhZ modernizes its production facilities. The plant is implementing a number of important projects including the construction of a crude benzene storage and a new tube furnace for tar heating, modernization of the plant railway automation system and coke shop No. 4 with the installation of the process control system. This year plan includes the start-up of an environmental project for elimination of hazardous emissions from tanks and storages of the tar distillation shop. A total of UAH 0.5 billion will be allocated through the end of 2017 for the development and renewal of production facilities.
AKKhZ continues its effective cooperation with the city. This year, UAH 11.9 billion have been allocated to support Avdiivka. The plant repairs education and health care institutions, improves transport logistics and the municipal infrastructure. Special attention was paid to the repair of employees’ houses affected by the shelling. With the help of DTEK and AKKhZ specialists, a new power line was installed to supply electricity from Ukraine-controlled territory. This provided the city with a continuous power supply and enabled the city-forming enterprise to operate at its full capacity. The construction of the “Ocheretino-Avdiivka” pipeline was started. The project budget amounts to UAH 58 million. Metinvest will donate a half of the sum through the Social Partnership Program, and the rest will be allocated from the regional budget.
Co-chair of the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee Dariush Rosatti:
- This is a very important plant that provides 80% of all receipts to the city treasury. We can observe the shelling effects yet the plant continues to operate which is important for Avdiivka as well as for the Ukrainian industry. Of course, it is good that environmental projects are financed.
Co-chair of the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee Mykola Knyazhytskyy:
- We were shown the production process, the people who keep on restoring the plant under such difficult conditions, as well as environmental projects that are implemented at the enterprise to modernize it. And this is despite its location in the front-line area. The General Meeting of the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee will take place today and we will discuss our impressions and recommendations. It is very important for us to include in the resolution some decisions concerning the support of Ukraine as a whole and such cities as Avdiivka. If the city and the plant are not supplied with water, there is a risk that the plant will be shut down and the city will die. It is obvious that this is not solely the problem of Ukraine, but of Europe as well.
General Director of Avdiivka Coke Plant Musa Magomedov:
- Despite all the difficulties, we have learnt to cope with challenges, solve problems that hinder today the work of our plant and the normal life of people in Avdiivka. Unfortunately, there are issues we are not able to resolve on our own. The availability of process water remains crucial at the moment. For a year and a half, we have no chance to repair the pipeline, because the rupture occurred in the uncontrolled territory. That is why the CHP plant of the enterprise receives three times less water than we need for the stable operation of the enterprise and the supply of heat to the multi-storey buildings of the city. Therefore, to solve this problem, we need help of OSCE, JCCC, civil-military administration, foreign diplomats, and the community.