All Roads And Medici Update: No International Renaissance Without Good Roads, Road Safety, And Good Governance

"The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved the Roads and Safety Improvement Project for Ukraine in the amount of $400 million. The objective of this, the first World Bank financed transport project in Ukraine, is to improve the condition and quality of sections of the M-03 road and increase traffic safety along Ukraine’s main road network….

The project forms part of the World Bank’s response to the social and economic crisis affecting Ukraine. It will lay the foundations for future growth and competitiveness, while at the same time creating jobs and fiscal stimulus to mitigate the effects of the economic downturn.

Ukraine is an important transit country given its location between Russia and other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the European market. The project will help integrate Ukraine’s transport network with that of the EU, promote Ukraine’s transit potential, and maximize the use of Ukraine’s existing transport assets. It will also contribute to making travel by road safer, thus helping to reduce the high rate of accident related deaths and injuries in Ukraine (7,690 died in road accidents in 2008)."

World Bank Approves $400 Million Roads and Safety Improvement Project for Ukraine April 7, 2009

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Transparency International is the global civil society organisation leading the fight against corruption.

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Czarist Russia oriented all roads and trains in colonized Ukraine north-south, generally, to facilitate transportation between Petersburg, Moscow, Kyiv, Odesa, and Yalta. After World War II (the Great Patriotic War), Stalin changed the Soviet railroad rail-width to prevent a repeat of Nazi occupation of Russia and Ukraine. This Soviet-era change is currently hindering rail integration of Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, and the Russian Federation with the rest of Europe.

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Header photo credit: Ukrainian or Russian Orthodox Church in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Future European Union. Kharkiv is Ukraine's second largest city. Photo by Rahul Guhathakurta, November 16, 2008, via Wikipedia Commons. With thanks.