The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved the draft Agreement between Ukraine and Romania on the opening of a new international border crossing point Bila Tserkva – Sighetu Marmaţiei. The new checkpoint will be primarily designed for the passage of freight vehicles.

“The disruption of logistics chains due to the russian invasion and the increased load on road checkpoints requires us to take decisions on the development of border infrastructure. At the same time, cargo traffic to Romania already accounts for 18% of all Ukraine’s neighbouring countries and ranks second overall. The new checkpoint will be designed to handle 500 trucks per day, about a thousand cars and 100 buses,” said Serhiy Derkach, Deputy Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development.

The first step towards the opening of the checkpoint is the approval of the draft Agreement at the governmental level. The State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine, which is responsible for road border crossing points, will be in charge of the construction.

Currently, the land plot for construction is being registered for the permanent use of the Restoration Service in Zakarpattia region.

In the future, design and estimate documentation will be developed for the construction of the checkpoint and the access road to the border crossing. The preliminary estimate of the construction cost is about UAH 1.6 billion.

Currently, there are five road border crossings and one ferry crossing on the border with Romania. Of these, only two are used to process trucks: Porubne – Siret and Dyakove – Halmeu. In total, they can handle no more than 400 trucks per day.