There is no money, but they will still launch a project worth 40 million euros in Riga

The Riga municipality will be looking for an expert and service provider for the verification of metrobus line construction projects in the field of procurement, reports LETA.

On the website of the Procurement Supervision Authority, the Procurement Department of the Central Administration of the Riga Municipality has published a preliminary information notice regarding the planned procurement – the construction of an independent public transport line and associated bicycle infrastructure on the section of Dzelzavas Street from Zemitana Bridge to Juglas Street, examination and inspection of construction sites.

Earlier it was reported that the mayor of Riga, Vilnis Kirsis, stated that the government would most likely not allocate funding for the implementation of this project and that the previously planned approximately 40 million euros would be transferred to the Rail Baltica project.

Kirsis hopes that the project to create a metrobus line in Riga can be implemented using funds from the next planning period of the European Union (EU) for 2028-2030.

If the municipality fails to attract EU money for the metrobus line project, it will seek funding on its own.

As the municipality explained, there are no plans to abandon this project yet, so all planned work will continue, including the purchase of an examination of the construction site, so that if the project is implemented, the necessary work will be carried out in accordance with the planned deadlines.

Construction of the metrobus line in Riga, on Dzelzavas Street, was planned to begin this year. According to preliminary estimates, the cost of the metrobus line was estimated at approximately 40 million euros.

Metrobus is an independent bus or trolleybus line, separated from road traffic; it is also called a high-speed bus or trolleybus. Its goal is to provide a service comparable to that of high-speed trams at significantly lower implementation costs.

The project was conceived as part of the greening reform of the transport system of the Riga metropolis, included in the plan of the European Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, which aims to promote a change in habits by introducing a restructuring of transport flows.