The State Road Service of Ukraine, Ukravtodor, plans to invite bids for work on the first phase of its ongoing 213km second belt road project around capital city Kiev.

The 25km section will run from the Kyiv-Znamianka highway across a 4.5km bridge over the Dnipro River outside the city of Ukrainka in Kyiv region.

UK construction firm McDonald has already been selected for the design and tender documentation of the work.

The section forms the second stage of the first phase of the road, the first is a newly opened 3.3km section around Kyiv.

The total first phase consists of a 74km road from the Kyiv-Znamianka highway to the Kyiv-Chernihiv-Novi Yarylovychi and is expected to finish by 2011.

The overall project is expected to finish by 2017 and involves building two bridges across the Dnipro River, 28 two-layer transport junctions and 78 overpasses.