In accordance with the established plan, “Valsts nekustamie īpašumi” (VNĪ) has completed the construction of a fence on priority sections of the Latvian-Russian border, as reported by VNĪ board member Jeļena Gavrilova.
She said floating pillars or pontoons have been installed along 8 km of marshy areas.
The remaining 28 km of the fence will be completed in accordance with previously established deadlines – by October 2025 – as contractors will have to work in difficult to reach areas.
In order to minimize risks and achieve the fastest possible construction terms, construction works were divided into 18 parts of works and they have been carried out in parallel since April this year. To complete construction work, VNĪ has hired six construction companies: “Citrus Solutions” LLC, “Hagberg Construction” LLC, “Nordes būve” LLC, “P un P Būvniecības grupa”, “Baltic Construction Company (BCC)” LLC and “Latvijas autoceļu uzturētājs”.
In cooperation with the National Armed Forces, this September VNĪ completed the construction of a 20-kilometre fence, which was a unique model of cooperation, where VNĪ performed the functions of a general contractor, organized the procurement of all materials and resources and managed the construction process.
Minister of the Interior Rihards Kozlovskis (JV) points out that the commitment included in the Government’s declaration to complete the construction of the fence on both the Belarusian and Russian borders by the end of this year has been fulfilled, as the works have been carried out professionally, within the set deadlines and taking into account the high priority of the construction works for strengthening the eastern border of both Latvia and the European Union (EU).
He says there are two authoritarian regimes neighbouring Latvia. Both frequently perform hybrid attacks on both Latvia and the EU. “Along with a modern physical border fence, we have laid a solid foundation for our collective security. The next step we are working on is equipping the eastern border with smart infrastructure, and an important contribution is the additional EUR 17 million allocated by the European Commission (EU) at the end of the year, which will both make Latvia’s external border with Russia safer and help the State Border Guard to work even more efficiently,” stresses the minister.
In summer 2023, VNĪ was ordered to manager, implement and supervise the construction of a fence on 283.6 km of Latvian-Russian border. VNĪ performs the necessary procurements, signs contracts and supervises the work done on infrastructure. Also in the autumn of 2021, it was decided that VNĪ would manage, implement and supervise construction of infrastructure on the external border with Belarus, where the construction of the fence was completed this July and the construction of the infrastructure is set to be completed within the next week.
Multiple organisations are involved in the reinforcement of the eastern border. The responsibility of VNĪ is the management and organisation of the construction process, including finding construction companies. The acquisition of the necessary plots of land is the responsibility of the Provision State Agency, whereas the actual deforestation is carried out by “Latvian State Forests”. The Latvian State Radio and Television Centre is responsible for the implementation of technological solutions, as well as cooperation with the border and infrastructure user – the State Border Guard and the Ministry of the Interior.
The implementation of the Eastern border construction project is supervised by the External Border Infrastructure Construction Monitoring Committee, which consists of representatives of the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economics, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, State Border Guard, State Security Agency, “Latvian State Radio and Television Centre”, VNĪ, “Latvian State Forests”, Latvian Geospatial Information Agency and the National Armed Forces.
VNĪ was founded in 1996. The Latvian State owns 100% of its shares. The Ministry of Finance holds capital shares on behalf of the state.