Do we send almost unused cars to Ukraine to buy new ones?

It’s not a pity that few used cars are sent to the Ukrainian Front, but isn’t this a waste of valuable municipal property and why did they have to buy new ones instead?! Or, if “Rīgas meži” has nowhere to put the money, why mightn’t they donate money to Ukraine in the amount of the new purchase?

And here the question is, instead of what exactly are the deputies elected to the City Duma doing – is almost a million back and forth in tax money from the residents of Riga – normal practice for Viestur Zeps? Perhaps he is still mentally in his position at the Freeport of Riga, where no one knew how to count numbers without six zeros. The case with the mayor of Vilnis Kirsis is clear – Anita Skudra is already telling all detractors that her “roof” used to be family friend Stakis, and now a member of the Kirsis party (Anita Skudra was a candidate for deputy of the New Unity party in the parliament from Tukums and is a long-time party member).

There will be another car write-off campaign this year.

In addition, almost possessing clairvoyance, we can safely say that even before the elections to the Duma this year, another party will be sent to the Ukrainian Front, since less than half have been sent. Since the purchase of new cars last spring, all the lightly used Nivas have been parked on the territory of the Norupe timber mill, including those that have not yet been sent to the front – hidden from prying eyes and unused for a long time.

Presumably, Anita Skudra came up with a brilliant plan to get rid of them without going through auctions. Ukraine is an excellent reason to write them off and give Duma members good advertising, thereby strengthening their positions.

Just a question: why mightn’t all the Nivas be sent at the same time? Most likely, Anita Skudra’s party member Vilnis Kirsis found it more attractive – to keep something closer to the elections and make another media event once morest the backdrop of the bloody war in Ukraine. Cynically.

It must be emphasized that no other company or capital company behaves so unethically – for example, “Rīgas Satiksme” sends buses that were twenty years old. Valsts meži and the Emergency Medical Services also act in accordance with best practice, not viewing the misfortunes and horrors of the war in Ukraine as a way to practice a wasteful management model. Even the Latvian armed forces act very responsibly.

Last year, little-used Nivas were replaced by the purchase of 29 new cars.

In previous purchases of OCTA in “Rīgas meži” you can see that there are 30 Niva or Lada 4×4 cars in its inventory. 14 were registered in 2019, 14 in 2018 and 2 in 2017. So, the youngest was not even 4 years old at the time of purchase of a new car last year, the oldest was 6 years old.

Was it really possible that at the beginning of 2023, the Nivas were so old and physically worn out that they had to purchase new cars, which won the most expensive auctions in both lots? SIA “Andre Motors” won with a bid of 499,860 euros for the purchase of 18 cars, and SIA “Mūsa Motors Rīga” – with a bid of 224,356 euros for 11 cars. So, just last year, more than 720 thousand euros worth of cars were purchased, which is a very large purchase.

They say that this new purchase is the initiative of the chairman of the board, Anita Skudra, because she is ashamed why the previous manager bought such completely unprestigious and cheap cars. So on a whim, the entire board and council decided to make a new purchase.

Looking at the purchases of this metropolitan company as a whole, there is no doubt, because since 2021, the extravagance of this metropolitan company is no stranger. But as long as the Riga City Council is led by her neighbor’s brother from the “Progressives” or a member of the “New Unity” party, she can feel safe in her seat, because no one in the Duma will dare to shake this chair. So the waste will continue at least until the summer of next year, and the head of the responsible commission, Viestur Zeps, can write at least ten alarming messages, he will apologize that his glasses are fogged up and the glasses are thick, and he cannot see anything.

It should be noted that all Nivas, from the moment the new machines were delivered, were stored at the Norupe Sawmill in Tinuzhskaya volost and were not used, but OCTA was purchased for them. And now the rest stand in the dust. The fact that they have not been driven for a long time can, if desired, also be checked by the relevant local government units and government agencies by checking the GPS devices and vehicle control systems. And it’s clear that this is nonsense regarding their wear and tear and the unavailability of spare parts.

In addition, Anita Skudra got into an interesting confusion on TV24, where she proudly told live how she got rid of unnecessary Nivas, and another participant in the discussion, Khoren Stalbe, began to talk regarding how in Canada Nivas are still used in municipal equipment, cleaning secondary city streets and parks. Considering that Riga has failed to clean up its streets and parks this year, 30 Nivs might be a welcome relief for Riga Mayor Kirsis and head of the Housing and Environment Committee Zeps.

Anita Skudra’s interesting path to office

In conclusion, it should be mentioned that Anita Skudra, the head of the capital company “Rīgas meži” of the Riga municipality, for a long time might not find a manager position following losing her job at JSC “Rīgas Dzirnavnieks” and only thanks to the brother of her neighbor in Tukums and the then mayor of Riga Martins Stakis she even without a competition became “a member of the board of “Rīgas meži”, and then, with the right agreement, she was appointed chairman of the board (Skudra told all this herself and was even proud of it in an interview with OK magazine in 2021 – experts claim that even the interview was bought at her whim).

Now the new position is in hand, and the documents are clean. Currently, her sins are forgiven, covered up and justified by party member and mayor of Riga Vilnis Kirsis. It is clear that without the support of party friends and family, Anita Skudra would not have been able to hold a position with a salary of 88 thousand euros per year, because for some reason she was no longer quoted in the business environment.

In conclusion – if the Riga City Council really wanted to help Ukraine with all its heart, and if “Rīgas meži” already has as much money as it never had before, then the mayor of Riga (who at the time of the purchase was Stakis, and at the time the car was written off by Kirsis) might impose an obligation on the capital’s society to use the Niva, but make a donation to the defenders of Ukraine for the amount of the new purchase. This would be a noble gesture on Riga’s part. It must be said that the council of “Rīgas Meži” and the deputies of the Riga municipality can prevent another such waste by stopping the purchase of expensive electric vehicles for the management of the capital’s capital society, which is happening now, but that will be a different story.

Purchase of new cars in 2023 –

OCTA purchases 2022, where you can see the technical characteristics of all vehicles at that time (Ladas, as well as older cars) –