The total costs of the removal of the Victory Monument and territory improvement project afterwards are estimated at EUR 2 131 899, said Chairman of Riga City Council Mārtiņš Staķis at a press-conference on 4 August.
Staķis also stressed that this amount covers the entire project, not just removal of the monument.
«The project is enormous. This is about 3 ha area and an object that took six years to build. Once it is removed, we plan to green the area,» said the mayor.
The project’s costs can be divided across the following positions:
3% of costs are for territorial improvement of the area around the monument;
3% of costs are for the removal of engineering communications;
7% of costs are for the dismantling of the main obelisk and bronze figures;
24% of costs are for the dismantling of the monument’s pedestal and technical structures beneath it;
45% of costs are for the backfilling of the pond in the park;
18% of costs are for the creation of a proper park in place of the monument complex.
According to Staķis, to make it on time and have the monument dismantled by 15 November 2022 and finish improving the park’s territory by July 2023, it is necessary to start work in the next couple of weeks.
When asked about meeting the deadline, he said:
«There is a high probability the ensemble will have been removed by October.»
Considering that the topic of the monument’s removal is important for many groups in Latvia’s society, Staķis argued it is necessary to have society represented in this process. This is why it is decided to have Society of Openness Delna be present during the project’s implementation.
Riga city’s executive director Jānis Lange mentioned two risks associated with the monument’s removal.
One risk is meeting deadlines and the other is the risk to national security.
Lange also said experts are working on security measures with security institutions:
«This is being done to properly organise entry and exit from the construction area, how workers will be able to stay within the area, and whether permits will be needed,» said Lange.
According to him, the most likely way the monument will be dismantled is by tipping it over.
«Considering the tight deadline, construction workers no longer consider the conventional method – removing each section piece by piece from the top – viable.»
Lange also mentioned that the precise method will be determined as preparations progress.
Also read: Harmony against using money from reserve fund on Soviet Victory monument’s removal