Methodology for Assessing the Prospects for Developing the Border Crossing Point Network of Ukraine

Abstract

Introduction. The dynamic development of Ukraine’s foreign economic relations with EU Member States, as well as the availability of powerful transit capacity, are the preconditions for growing passenger and freight traffic across the state border of Ukraine. These trends increase the load on the existing border checkpoints, most of which currently require upgrade and reconstruction. Zakarpatska Oblast is a strategically important logistics, investment,and tourist gateway to the EU for Ukraine. Nineteen border crossing points (BCPs) have been operating at its territory. The opening of 18 more BCPs has been declared in the regulatory documents of various levels and types. Meanwhile, it is rather expensive and impracticable to open all the mentioned BCPs at the same time.Problem Statement. The existing network of border checkpoints is characterized by outdated infrastructure, long time of crossing the border, unequal distribution of border checkpoints and high load level, etc. The opening of new BCPs will redistribute the passenger and freight traffic and balance the inflows and outflows.Purpose. The research aims at developing the methodology to assess the priority of opening the BCPs at the state border in Zakarpatska Oblast and to calculate on this basis the integral index of promising border checkpoints.Materials and Methods. To develop the methodology, the authors have used the systemic approach that takes into account the complexity of the research object; the horizontal and vertical links; poor predictability of the object; functional designation of border checkpoints, etc. The promising border checkpoints have been rankedbased on the index method.Results. The methodology for assessing the priority of opening the border checkpoints has been developed. The research deliverables are the rankings of promising border checkpoints formed based on the calculation of the integral index.Conclusions. The research has outlined the prospects for applying the methodology to assess the priority of opening the border checkpoints and for developing the BCP network at the state border in Zakarpatska Oblast.