Latvia cannot afford Rail Baltica project. This is why it should be frozen and halted for a year to resolve all financial issues, said Minister of Agriculture Armands Krauze in an interview.
He said that Rail Baltica’s planning was incorrect on a national level. While at some point in the past the project’s costs were planned at EUR 1.9 billion, they have since swelled to approximately EUR 10 billion.
“There is inflation, of course, but it is clear the project’s planning and direction wasn’t good. I personally don’t understand how we are supposed to afford nearly EUR 10 billion of costs in Rail Baltica project. Perhaps it was a dream for many residents to hop on a train in Riga and travel all the way to Berlin. But now it seems we will be boarding the train in Salaspils, not Riga.
Ten billion euros! Latvia doesn’t have the money, and no one can say how we are supposed to afford Rail Baltica,” said Krauze.
The minister stressed that Latvia cannot allocate such an amount from its budget, which makes it necessary to borrow money. Brussels initially promised to cover 85% of the project’s costs. However, now it seems the actual financing amount will be much lower, and we may see a situation when 15% of funding comes from Brussels and 85% – from Latvia.
“I cannot agree to having my children and grandchildren pay for Rail Baltica. We don’t even know if there are trains prepared to use this track. No one dares talk about this,” admits Krauze.
The minister said this is his personal opinion. According to him, this topic was not discussed in his party. The opinion of the Union of Greens and Farmers is that 85% of financing should come from Europe and that the Rail Baltica track should go through Riga as well. Additionally, the party wants to know the sources of funding.
“If we don’t have money, we don’t buy luxurious goods for us, our home or our family. In this case we sit around in a wooden shack, hoping we will one day have a palace, and that someday someone will give us billions to build said palace,” said the minister.
He also mentioned there are many myths about the project itself, such as military mobility. Military mobility is highly important, but there is already a good road network for this purpose, but because it is planned to build four bridges in Latvia for Rail Baltica, and because Ukraine’s example shows that bridges are usually bombed and destroyed in the event of a military conflict, the project would have little value in terms of military mobility.
Defending bridges is impossible, and it is far more important to compose a good network of roads instead, said Krauze.
As previously reported, on the 13th of June, the Saeima decided to compose a special inquiry committee to investigate Rail Baltica project’s many mistakes. The committee was given a six-month term.
It was also reported that supreme audit institutions of Baltic States concluded that Rail Baltica project’s situation research report contains no clarity about the railway track’s use and management model.
According to the latest analysis of the costs and benefits of Rail Baltica, the total cost of the railway line in the Baltics can reach EUR 23.8 billion, including the costs of the first phase of the project in the Baltics could amount to EUR 15.3 billion, of which in Latvia – EUR 6.4 billion. In a previous cost-benefit analysis in 2017, it was estimated that the project would cost a total of EUR 5.8 billion.
In Latvia, it is planned to commence the construction of Rail Baltica track in 2024.