With about 57 kilometers of fence remaining to be built, about half of which is planned to be completed this year, the remaining 28 kilometers of the fence in difficult, hard-to-access areas will be built by the end of October next year.
On October 10, VNĪ accepted the work done by the construction company SIA “Nordes būve” in two sections of the Latvian-Russian border with a total length of approximately 21 kilometers in Balvu county, Šķilbēni and Vecumu parishes.
In the next two months, the acceptance of this year’s planned works will gradually take place in the remaining stages at the Latvian-Russian border.
VNĪ has concluded 16 contracts with six construction contractors for the performance of works. The construction works are currently being carried out by construction contractors SIA “Citrus Solutions”, SIA “Hagberg Construction”, “Nordes būve”, the general partnership “P and P Būvniecības grupa”, SIA “Baltic Construction Company (BCC)” and VAS “Latvijas autoceļu ústūtējs”.
In cooperation with the National Armed Forces, VNĪ completed the construction of a 20-kilometer fence in September this year, which was a unique model of cooperation, where VNĪ performed the functions of general contractor, organized the procurement of all materials and resources, and managed the construction process.
Grishkevics informs that the construction works are divided into 18 work parts in total, so that they can take place in parallel, in order to minimize risks and achieve the fastest possible construction deadlines. At the same time, the installation of floating supports or pontoons for the fence is underway in several places in marshy areas. Currently, pontoons have been built for a little over four kilometers out of the eight kilometers planned for this year. In general, it is planned to build pontoons in the planned length of 24 kilometers by the end of October next year.
The head of VNĪ emphasizes that the construction of the fence and infrastructure is even slightly ahead of schedule.
The construction works of the missing border fence between Latvia and Russia have been under the supervision of VNĪ since April of this year. Previously, SIA “Ceļu būvnečias sabiedrības “Igate”” built 99 kilometers of fence on the Latvian-Russian border, until the works were stopped in 2019. In the previously concluded contract with the State Border Guard, in this section – 99 kilometers long, the elimination of the deficiencies found in the border fence and infrastructure (four suspension cable bridges, patrol trails) was started last week, which is carried out by the “Road construction company “Igate”” without additional funding. These works will also be completed by the end of October next year.
In the summer of 2023, VNĪ received the task of managing, implementing and monitoring the construction of the fence and infrastructure of the external eastern border of the European Union (EU) with a length of 283.6 kilometers with Russia, where VNĪ makes the necessary purchases, concludes procurement contracts and controls the completed work. Also, in the fall of 2021, it was determined that the VNĪ manages, implements and monitors the construction of the infrastructure of the external borders with Belarus, where the construction of the fence was completed in July this year.
Several organizations are involved in strengthening the eastern border. The responsibility of the VNĪ is to manage and organize the construction process, including finding builders in the tender, the State Security Agency is responsible for the expropriation of the necessary land plots, the actual deforestation is carried out by VAS “Latvijas valsts meži”, while the Latvian State Radio and Television Center is responsible for implementing technological solutions, as there is also cooperation with the users of the border and infrastructure – the State Border Guard and the Ministry of the Interior.
The implementation of the Eastern border construction project is supervised by the External Border Infrastructure Construction Monitoring Committee, which consists of representatives from the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, the State Border Guard, the State Security Agency, VAS “Latvian State Radio and Television Center”, VNĪ, AS “Latvijas valsts meži”, Latvian Geospatial Information Agency and the National Armed Forces.
VNĪ was founded in 1996, its 100% owner is the Latvian state, the holder of the state’s capital shares is the Ministry of Finance.