2024-07-20 00:25:28
He stated that there was not enough time for a conversation with representatives of the State Audit Office (SAO) on Friday, so the commission agreed to exchange documents with the State Audit Office in order to obtain additional information.
Kulbergs also noted that nothing was discussed at the meeting that would be limited availability information. “This is a fundamental problem of our country, because there are many documents that have been given this status, but they do not deserve it. In addition, many documents are still with limited access even after several years,” he said.
Kulberg stated that the commission wants to push this issue forward, and the SC agrees that this situation should be changed and the documents should be declassified.
He also pointed out that the project practically has no initial scope – the 2016 order of the Cabinet of Ministers is the only document that defines what Latvia will build and how it will look, but no additional elements are defined.
“Latvia has been living on portions of funding from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), which are allocated to specific activities, so no one looked at this project in general. Here is the myth – the European Commission (EC) has never said that it will finance this project, but will come with their participation, because it is interesting how the railway connection is developing here,” said Kulberg.
He stated that the EC will evaluate the two-year period until 2026. “If the EC sees that the project has some “tails” left, then maybe everything will be fine, but, for example, one document shows that the scope of Riga around the airport is technically possible only in 2027. Then this year 2026 will be over, and “Latvia runs the risk that the EC can start a disciplinary case and demand money for everything previously requested,” said Kulbergs.
He added that the commission also has specific initiatives to change the regulation, as well as it is already possible to answer several of the 13 questions asked by the commission.
On the other hand, the state controller Edgars Korchagins noted that on Friday the Supreme Court answered in detail all the questions of the parliamentary investigation commission, telling how the control came to several conclusions that were in the report on the project. The VC also told about the documents that were the basis of the assumptions and estimates made by the VC.
“VK agreed with the members of the commission on the amount of information that the control will submit for additional work of the commission,” added Korchagin.
Commenting on the problems of the “Rail Baltica” project, Korchagins said that there are a lot of problems and there are several urgent questions regarding financing, coordination, and the manner in which decisions are made within the framework of the project. “Of course, there are other issues that are more about the future, but they need to be addressed now, for example, infrastructure management, rolling stock,” he said.
Member of the Saeima and member of the parliamentary commission Skaidrīte Ābrama (P), commenting on the received CEF funding in the amount of 346.1 million, stated that, of course, you can be happy about the money received, but it is absolutely insufficient.
“This means that the Ministry of Transport (MoT) together with the responsible institutions must think about what to optimize in the project. Also, together with the Ministry of Finance (MoF), we must look for where Latvia could get money, because the MoF has also been insufficiently involved so far. Obviously, the MoF 15% of the planned but unrealistic amount has been used in the budget for the year. Everyone must think about what to do next, because this amount is absolutely insufficient if we want the railway tracks to pass through Riga,” emphasized Ābrama.
The next meeting is scheduled for July 25. Baib Rubes, the former head of the joint venture of the Baltic states JSC “RB Rail” and Edvina Bērzinus, the former chairman of the board, will be invited to the next meeting.
It has already been reported that on June 13 this year, following a proposal by 34 members, the Saeima decided to establish a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the mistakes made in the course of the “Rail Baltica” project. The commission has a six-month working term.
The purpose of the commission’s activity is to identify the mistakes made in the implementation of the project, while ensuring that it becomes a priority issue of the government “so that decisions are made transparently and in a timely manner, as well as respecting the interests of the state and society, the impact on the Latvian economy and the state budget”.
Opposition member Kulbergs was elected as the chairman of the parliamentary investigation commission.
It was also announced that according to the research report on the situation of the “Rail Baltica” project carried out by the highest audit institutions of the Baltic States, there is currently no clarity about the model of operation and management of the “Rail Baltica” railway line.
According to the data of the latest analysis of costs and benefits of “Rail Baltica”, the total costs of the railway line in the Baltics can reach 23.8 billion euros, including the costs of the first phase of the project in the Baltics could be 15.3 billion euros, of which 6.4 billion euros in Latvia. In the previous cost-benefit analysis in 2017, it was estimated that the project would cost a total of 5.8 billion euros.
In Latvia, the construction of the main line of “Rail Baltica” is planned to start in 2024.
The “Rail Baltica” project envisages the creation of a railway line of European standard gauge from Tallinn to the border of Lithuania and Poland, so that it would be possible to connect the Baltic states with other European countries by rail. In the Baltic States, it is planned to build a new, 870-kilometer-long railway line of European gauge (1435 millimeters) with a maximum train speed of 240 kilometers per hour.
2024-07-20 00:25:28