UKRAINE, KHARKIV OBLAST, Dec. 15 — The Humanitarian Demining Center has successfully conducted an invitation to tender (call for bids) for the demining of agricultural land in the Kharkiv region covering an area of 7,995 hectares. A bid was submitted by ADP-AGRO LLC.

The Ministry of Economy said that the company has a strong track record under the compensation program: in November, more than 3,300 hectares of cleared farmland were returned to the company in the Barvinkove community (also Kharkiv region).

According to the agency, the new application was divided into 10 smaller lots ranging in size from 193 to 1,123 hectares. In total, 1,283 cadastral land plots are to be cleared of mines in the Oskil, Barvinkove, and Balakliia communities of Izium district.

The cost of the demining works, based on the auction results, amounted to 588.3 million hryvnias (nearly 14 million US dollars), according to the Ministry of Economy.

Following the tender results across three auctions, the operator Humanitarian Security won the bids. Two additional plots will be cleared by Global Demining. PSM Ukraine, Transimpex Demining, Ukrainian Demining Services, Ukrainian Demining Agency, and International Demining Group each won a bid for demining of a single plot of land.

The preliminary average cost of demining under the application is estimated at 73,600 hryvnias (1,740 US dollars) per hectare. 

“We are gradually moving toward clearing areas where intense fighting took place. In fact, in the communities where demining under this application will be carried out, over 31,000 hectares are classified as potentially or confirmed contaminated. This accounts for one third of all land in Ukraine with such a status,” said Deputy Minister of Economy Ihor Bezkaravainyi.

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