Construction, Latvia, Law and Regulations, Legislation, Real Estate

Culture Minister Dace Melbarde (National Alliance) said earlier that making the museum an object of national importance would speed up implementation of a project which provides for renovation of the museum, construction of an annex to the existing museum building as well as a memorial to the victims of occupation.

The legislative amendments are required to ensure completion of the project in accordance with the schedule by the Centennial of the Republic of Latvia to be celebrated on November 18, 2018.

The parliament also upheld the proposal to put the Ministry of Environment and Regional Development in charge of supervising the development of the memorial to the victims of Soviet occupation until the beginning of actual construction. During the construction phase it will be the responsibility of the State Office for Construction Control to ensure legitimacy and control of the construction process.

The proposals for the third and final reading of the bill in the Latvian parliament will be accepted until June 10.

The project based on the designs created by Latvian-born US architect Gunnar Birkerts has been a subject of a lengthy heated debate which began in summer 2015 when a group of Latvian architects sent a letter to the Latvian Culture Ministry, criticizing the project and saying that Birkerts’ idea to build a new white-colored wing to the dark original museum building built in 1970 would ruin the urban landscape. However, it is rumored that the authors of the letter pursue own business interests in trying to stop Birkerts’ project which has come under the scrutiny of the municipal construction authorities.

The Riga Construction Board refused to issue the construction permit for renovation of the Occupation Museum. Valsts Nekustamie Ipasumi (VNI), the company responsible for management of the state-owned real properties, is keen to push on with the project and asked the Riga City Council's City Development Department to reverse the negative decision by the Construction Board. Acting on this complaint, the City Development Department in May this year decided that the Construction Board will have to repeatedly consider the project and to provide more detailed explanations about the reasons for its refusal to grant the construction permit. VNI is not happy about the decision which means more delay in implementation of the project.