Ministry orders debtor to build €80m bridge

Kundzinsala, Riga’s second largest island with an area of ​​5.55 square kilometers, doesn’t even have its own store, and the trolleybus crawls here with its horns lowered, along the renovated motorway bridge across the Sarkandaugava. At the southern end of the island, in its port part, it is connected to the mainland by a railway crossing, located in the customs zone – strangers don’t go there. But now they want to build a third bridge!

“Has strategic development”

The portal of legal acts contains a document signed by the Minister of Transport Kaspars Briškens (Progressives) – “On the allocation of additional funding in the form of a loan to the municipality of the state city of Riga for the implementation of the project “Transition of traffic from Tvaika Street to Kunzdiņsala”.

The latter is linked to the construction of an overpass over the Riga-Skulte railway (implemented by the capital) and the AS Valsts nekustamie īpašumi project “Creation of infrastructure for the implementation of control services functions in Kundzinsala” (funded by the EU-funded Recovery and Resilience Mechanism).

Next comes a reference to a government decision adopted on March 15, 2016: “To provide the necessary infrastructure at Riga’s main crossings and eliminate the fragmented nature of the main streets.” The Cabinet of Ministers has just been taken over by Maris Kucinskis, and transit, although it faltered following Crimea, is still in full swing… The crossing through Sarkandaugava, the Ministry of Transport document asserts, “is of strategic importance.”

But while the Eastern Highway was being built, Kundzinsala’s turn was crawling slowly. And only on June 6, 2023, the management of the Freeport of Riga signed an agreement with SIA Apex Building, according to which the construction work had to be completed… by the end of the same year!

The lawyers of the contracting parties must have had a remarkable imagination. One way or another, it soon became clear: “Taking into account the legal protection process initiated by the contractor and the climatic conditions, due to which it was not possible to carry out construction work in accordance with the technology… the deadline for the execution of construction work is extended…”

On April 18, 2024, good news arrived: “The insolvency administrator has issued a notice on the continuation of the contract with SIA Apex Building, so the implementation of the construction contract is currently ongoing, and it is planned that the construction work will be completed in 2024.”



The island is now connected to the mainland by two bridges.

A couple of lines below, however, a different deadline is named. The Central Finance and Contracting Agency, the main structure of the Ministry of Finance for the distribution and control of EU money, “provides for the achievement of performance indicators by January 1, 2026.” For what the Free Port has already done, Riga will have to pay compensation – 13,751,650 euros.

As always, there is not enough money

In the 2010s, the Riga Free Port was full of rosy dreams of expanding trade between the East and the West; in distant China, freight trains were already being formed that stretched across the endless Russian expanses. But, alas, the war in Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions made our harbor practically a dead-end branch.

K. Briškens’ department found a way out of the situation and pointed out that the most important thing is not the actual cargo transportation – what kind of transportation do we have these days! – but “strengthening the military mobility network”. “Infrastructure that ensures fast and safe logistics in the Riga port is also vitally necessary for ensuring the military mobility of Latvia and its allies and strengthening the state’s defense functions.”

“In the future, it is planned… to provide a connection with the Adazi military base and the city center,” the “progressive” minister emphasizes. As they say, everything for the front, everything for victory. But here’s the problem once more: the builders have once once more inflated the estimate.

“The total anticipated costs amount to EUR 82,667,195 including VAT, while the available state budget financing and the available amount of the state budget loan amount to EUR 46,595,550, so that additional financing in the amount of EUR 36,071,645 must be provided.” Therefore, the above-mentioned money must, by all means, be provided for in the budget for 2025!

“The first overpass is in the residential area of ​​Kundzinsala”

Your author also managed to get acquainted with an extensive — 37-page — presentation, which was completed back in the corona-crisis year of 2020 by leading construction companies of the Republic of Latvia. It projected the length of the roadway of the new overpass at 4.1 km, the speed of 50 km/h, the number of lanes — up to 5, each at least 3.5 m wide.



The state will invest in another object. Infographics of the Freeport of Riga.

“The beginning of the crossing is Tvaika Street, the end section is the first overpass in the residential area of ​​Kunzinsala, the second and third are in the customs area of ​​Kundzinsala,” stated the document, splendidly illustrated with all sorts of diagrams and drawings, on which the new roads meandered among the terminals of oil products (I wonder where they come from?), not forgetting, of course, regarding the bicycle paths. The bridge will be equipped with a mesh fence, metal lanterns with “decorative holiday lighting” will be installed. The visualization shows how impressive the bridge will look at night…

“Solutions for the convenience of residents” also mention the reconstruction of public transport stops, and in the future even the extension of Eksporta Street. As for economic activity, the document mentions such economic locomotives as Aldaris and MAN-TESS as “facilities where increased freight traffic is envisaged.”

There they want to make the height under the overpass up to 8 meters – for the freedom of trucks. It seems, however, that the golden age of these enterprises passed 10-15 years ago. Although, if you are transporting, say, a missile launcher on a trailer, then it really wouldn’t hurt to make the dimensions respectable.

One way or another, we have another “construction project of the century” with an absolutely murky economic component, based on widespread militarization. Although in the event of an armed conflict, such a transport complex can be rendered completely unusable in a few minutes. It would be better to leave the quiet river with waterfowl.