Baltic, Construction, Cooperation, EU – Baltic States, Funds, Railways, Transport

"The signing process is almost completed, just one signature is missing,"  was told at the Latvia-registered RB Rail joint venture on Monday. It was originally planned to complete the signature process at the end of last week.

Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways) has not yet signed the agreement due to internal decision-making processes but should do so in the next few days, a RB Rail representative said.

Lithuanian Railways wants railroad construction tenders to be carried out by the joint venture although the agreed-upon procurement model stipulates that each country will hold its own construction tenders, it was reported at the end of September. If the tenders were organized by the joint venture Lithuanian Railways could participate in them. But the Lithuanian Ministry of Transport and Communications did not agree to consider this option.

The agreement will be signed by nine Baltic institutions, CEO of RB Rail Baiba Rubesa told the European Affairs Committee of the Latvian parliament on Friday.

According to the agreement, RB Rail will have the central manager's role in the project, Rubesa said. The company will manage procurements and supervise the implementation of the project as well as marketing and business activities.

Representatives of the three Baltic countries agreed at the Sept. 7 meeting of the RB Rail supervisory board on the further procurement model and responsibilities in implementing the Rail Baltic project. They decided to divide all procurements into three groups - procurements organized solely by the joint venture, consolidated procurements carried out by the joint venture, and procurements carried out by national companies under supervision of the joint venture.

Rail Baltic is the project for the construction of a European-gauge high-speed railroad from Tallinn to Lithuania's border with Poland.