Budget, Financial Services, Funds, Latvia, Transport

The Transport Ministry reported that the officials during the meeting discussed last year’s performance and this year’s plans. The minister praised the company’s work, also calling to efficiently invest this year’s funding in road repairs and quality.

"Financing for road repairs and maintenance has increased in the past years and as a result the situation on the main state roads has improved considerably, as well as the road quality," said Augulis, adding that some challenges still remain to be solved.

LVC will be ordered to conduct an inventory of all state, municipal and private roads to obtain an overall picture on the situation of the roads. This will be the first such a comprehensive inventory and it is essential to timely plan financing of road repairs.

At the same time, the situation on gravel roads is deteriorating recently, therefore the company has been invited to submit its proposals for solving the situation.

Lange said that in order to start the construction season in due time, procurements for this year have been launched already in 2016. In 2017 repairs in 140 sites of the state road network are planned.

According to the Transport Ministry, this year’s financing is by 10 percent or EUR 14 million higher than last year. In total EUR 286 mln are available for the state road network, including EUR 127 mln from the EU funds, and EUR 159 mln from the state budget.

In relation to last year, Lange said that transport intensity increased by 5%. In total of 1,140 kilometers of roads were repaired. Out of all state roads, 44% of motor roads with asphalt and 43% of gravel roads were in a very poor condition.

LVC, established in 2004, belongs to the Latvian state. The company manages the national road network and its financing, as well as organizes tenders for public contracts.