KIEV, July 3 – Ukraine’s leaders on Thursday assured Michel Platini, UEFA president, that the country will move rapidly towards building stadium projects and improving infrastructure to be able to co-host the Euro-2012, a major soccer tournament.

The assurances come to quell concerns that Ukraine, as well as another co-host Poland, has been making slow progress in preparations since beating Italy and joint bidders Hungary and Croatia in April 2007.

"The next three months will be very important for Ukraine," Platini told reporters at the end of a meeting with President Viktor Yushchenko. "Things can advance in a very, very positive manner."

Platini, who described his impressions as "superb" after talks with Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, said he had received "oral guarantees" on the start of preparations. Poland was praised by the 10-strong UEFA delegation on Wednesday.

"The final, final, final decision will be taken in Bordeaux at the end of September at the UEFA executive committee meeting,” Platini said.

This, however, required some major commitments from the Ukrainian leaders.

“I want to remove all concerns, myths and fairy tales on whether Ukraine is able to host Euro-2012,” Yushchenko said. “The decent hosting of the tournament is the question of honor for the country and for me personally.”

Tymoshenko said: “We will do everything, even the impossible, to make sure that [the tournament] turns out to be a great party for the whole world and so that Ukraine looks as a decent partner.”

It is the first time over the past 34 years that UEFA has granted the right to hold the major soccer tournament in Eastern Europe after Yugoslavia had staged Euro-1974.

That provides many challenges as Poland and Ukraine, following decades of Communist rule, have to bring their air, rail and road transport services and hotel sectors up to scratch to cope with the influx of fans.

“The fact that the process has moved from the dead point center, and is coming along, is very encouraging,” Nataliya Izosimova, the managing director of the Foundation for Effective Governance, a Kiev-based think tank, said in an interview.

FEG, on which Rinat Akhmetov, the wealthiest Ukrainian businessman, pledged to spend $50 million during the next five years, is focusing on three projects helping Ukraine’s economic growth. Euro-2012 is one of them.

“If we talk about economic growth, this is such a great chance for Ukraine to make a breakthrough,” Izosimova said. “This is construction of infrastructure that will keep working for the economy for decades. This is very important.”

Topping the list of concerns is Ukraine’s No. 1 game venue, Olympic Stadium in Kiev, whose overhaul has been stalled more than a year due to a land ownership legal battle between powerful business groups.

Construction crews most recently returned to the stadium on Wednesday, one day before Platini's arrival. The work on the 85,000-seat venue has been frozen since March due to the legal battle between the groups.

Overall, Ukraine may require investments totaling more than $20 billion to host the tournament, of which $3.4 billion are needed in 2008 alone, according estimates by government officials.

The government apparently plans to spend only a fraction of that, perhaps up to 20%, while the remaining cash must come from private and mostly foreign investors.

“A very important thing is to get private investors in Ukraine to finance the required infrastructure projects,” Izosimova said. “That’s why the country needs to have the respective investment climate. The plans for the development of cities hosting Euro-2012 must also be drafted.”

Four Ukrainian cities, including Kiev, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Lviv, have been selected to host the tournament, while another two, Kharkiv and Odessa, are in a stand-by mode.

“I think that Donetsk today looks good because the stadium there is almost completed,” Izosimova said. “Several vectors are focusing on one point, including the interest from the authorities, and from businesses, so that things are done in the right way.”

“All regions have a colossal stimulus to prepare for the Euro-2012,” Izosimova said. “This is a window of opportunity. If the region builds itself into that window, it will be very good.” (ab/tl/ez)