KIEV, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The Beijing-based China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC) on Friday signed an agreement to implement a dredging project at Ukraine's southern Black Sea port of Chornomorsk.
The deal was inked at the Ukrainian Infrastructure Ministry by Lin Tao, the head of the representative office of the CHEC in Ukraine, and Maksym Shyrokov, the head of the Yuzhny port administration, which carried out the tender for the dredging project.
The CHEC won the tender on March 14, beating four companies from Ukraine and Europe with a bid price of 404 million hryvnyas (about 15.6 million U.S. dollars).
"This tender was conducted transparently and effectively, excluding the possibility of any corruption manifestations. As a result of this tender, we saved 40 million hryvnyas (about 1.5 million U.S. dollars). That's really big savings," Volodymyr Omelyan, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister, said at the signing ceremony.
Chornomorsk, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea, is one of the largest seaports in Ukraine, handling between 15 and 20 million tons of cargo annually.
Under the dredging project, the Chinese company has to deepen the port's approach channel to 16 meters and deepen one of the port's operational areas to 15 meters, boosting the handling capacity of the port.
The project is set to be completed by the end of the current year.
The CHEC is already implementing a separate dredging project at the Black Sea port of Yuzhny in southern Ukraine.
Rayvis Veckagans, the head of Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, said that the Ukrainian side is very pleased by the quality and the timeliness of the project implementation and is willing to continue cooperation with the CHEC.
"Based on the results of works in the Yuzhny port, we are glad to entrust the dredging of the Chornomorsk port to such a reliable partner," Veckagans said.
Meanwhile, Lin Tao said that the Chinese company is honored to contribute to the development of Ukraine's infrastructure.
"I promise that China Harbor will continue to contribute our knowledge and professionalism to build more beautiful and prosperous Ukraine," Lin said.