Preserve Your City

Mr. Dmitry Firtash, Head of the Board of Directors of Group DF and President of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine urges municipalities’ principal employers and large businesses to help communities they are based in.
 
“Corporations must play an active role in the development of communities hosting them. In addition to paying taxes, the ad hoc, purpose-specific support to municipalities is equally important. Such kinds of support work very effectively. It is critical for people to see tangible results, to see their cities change, to see their lives improve,” argued Mr. Firtash.
 
Dmitry Firtash believes that the “enterprise-to-community” assistance is extremely important. The investor is urging all businesspeople of Ukraine to follow his suit and to contribute into making social initiatives a reality. “I am prepared to do more for the country. On top of the taxes I pay. And I encourage everyone to support initiatives of the people investing in their country. The more we do it, the stronger and wealthier Ukraine will become. I think everyone must do more for the country and for each other than we are formally expected to. This is what genuine patriotism is about!”
 
Almost all the companies Mr. Firtash invests in are cities’ principal employers or generate lion’s shares of municipal budgets in cities and towns they are based in. Such municipalities include Cherkassy and Rivne, Gorlovka (Donetsk region), Severodonetsk (Lugansk region), Irshansk (Zhytomir region), Vilnohirsk (Dnipropetrovsk region), Armiansk and Krasnoperekopslk (both in Crimea). Upon the investor’s initiative, companies in these cities are active in social projects run by municipalities or move forward their own initiatives of support to citizens.
 
One of the major programs aimed at infrastructure improvement was launched in May of 2011 in Severodonetsk (Lugansk region) being home for “Severodonetsky AZOT” plant. The enterprise has volunteered to renovate the trolleybuses park in the city and the first 10 vehicles have already been delivered. The Ice Palace and the Culture Club reconstruction works are underway in parallel with major repairs of the city’s sidewalks.

In October 2012 after meeting with employees of Severodonetsk Azot and Stirol Concern, Dmitry Firtash announced his decision about launching an experimental program of preferential lending to these chemical companies’ employees willing to acquire housing in Gorlovka and Severodonetsk. The loans will be issued to eligible borrowers against 6 percent interest rate.

In Gorlovka (ca. 265 thousand citizens), concern STIROL has assisted in remodeling the dialysis room of the local hospital’s nephrology ward treating 54 patients from four Donetsk region cities. In addition to health care assistance projects, STIROL has repaired 10 kilometers of city roads. By the date of marking Stirol’s 80^th anniversary in 2013, the major remodeling of the company’s culture club will have been completed.
 
In Cherkassy, brand new equipment was acquired and delivered to the local pediatric center specializing in nervous system dysfunctions therapy.
 
In September 2012, Cherkassy’s principal employer AZOT completed the refurbishment of the city Culture Club “Peoples Friendship’ and a fountain-centered square across it. The total works budget reached some 50 million UAH. Further, the roads maintenance works are underway and the renovation of Cherkassy’s trolleybuses park is in progress.

Rivneazot, which pays for about 50% of all tax revenues to the Rivne budget and about 15% of fiscal revenues to the regional budget, provides financial assistance to the nunnery, orphanages, boarding schools, hospitals and schools. Rivneazot has already renovated 1.5 km of road connecting the plant with the nearest towns and being a main route to the enterprise for surrounding area residents. By the end of 2013, Rivneazot intends to repair 13 thousand square meters of roads - both those that are on the territory of the enterprise and public roads.
 
The Crimea-based “Crimean Soda Plant” and “Krymskiy TITAN” enterprises controlled by Mr. Firtash jointly employ over 7 thousand workers. Both cities – Armiansk and Krasnoperekopsk where the plants are located completely depend on them: tax deductions of “Crimean Soda Plant” make up 80 percent of Krasnoperekopsk while “Krymskiy TITAN” generates more than a half of the city budget of Armiansk.
 
In October of 2011, after a meeting with Mr. Pavel Burlakov, the First Vice-Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Crimea, Dmitry Firtash announced his commitment to invest more than 200 million hryvnias in Armiansk. “Today we have reviewed four projects aimed at Armiansk social infrastructure improvement. The first one is water supply as the city’s water piping requires 100 percent replacement. The second project is sewage. Also, we will finance schools and kindergartens remodeling works. The last project is buildings roofs and elevators repairs. The total budget of social projects exceeds 200 million hryvnias,” stressed the entrepreneur. “By the year 2015, the city will transform completely,” pledged Mr. Firtash.
  
During 2012 Armiansk-based “Krymskiy TITAN” covered the cost of maintenance of 55 blocks of apartments. The last roofing maintenance works had been carried out in 2010-2011 but at that time the municipal budget allocations only sufficed to cover as few as five blocks of apartments. In addition to that, “Krymskiy TITAN” also financed the repairs of 310 stair-wells and hallways in blocks of apartments and 50 publicly-used premises at local hostels. 210 entrance doors were replaced with solid metal-plated doors, 12 elevators underwent capital repairs and 5 newly-built blocks of apartments received brand new elevators donated by “Krymskiy TITAN”. About 2.5 km of sewage pipes and 4 km of water supply pipes were repaired.
 
Besides, the municipal swimming pool and the conference-hall of the city’s Culture Club were refurbished at the company’s expense. At an earlier time, it completed the local hospital’s capital reconstruction furnishing it with essential medical equipment, and refurbished a local culture club.

The “Crimean Soda Plant” is also providing an extensive support to Krasnoperekopsk and its neighborhood. As part of this assistance, the plant has donated a school bus to a school in Belogorsk district.
 
Two mining and enrichment complexes: in Irshansk (Zhytomir region) and in Vilnohirsk (Dnipropetrovsk region) sustain the entire municipal infrastructure including schools, hospitals, culture clubs, rehabilitation centers, etc.
 
The total of about 1 million Ukrainians are beneficiaries of social projects run by Mr. Firtash’s companies in the cities housing them.