The coalition party Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) has called on Transport Minister Atis Švinka to remove the restricted-access status from information related to the implementation and financing of the Rail Baltica project, according to a statement released by the party to the media.
Members of the ZZS parliamentary faction point out that at the Saeima Budget and Finance (Tax) Committee meeting, lawmakers considered the reallocation of budget appropriations related to the execution of the Rail Baltica project and the allocation of funding. However, this information was classified as restricted-access.
The political party stresses that such status should apply only if the decision on reallocating appropriations contains commercial secrets. In their view, the Ministry of Transport of Latvia, which initiated the issue, has unjustifiably classified the information.
The Commercial Secret Protection Law stipulates that information related to the performance of public administration functions or tasks cannot be considered a commercial secret, nor can information concerning the use of state or municipal financial resources and assets in cases defined by legislation.
The ZZS parliamentary faction states that it supports transparent and publicly accessible information
regarding how the Ministry of Transport uses state budget funds. Therefore, it considers the unjustified application of the Freedom of Information Law of Latvia unacceptable.
“It is not clear why financial issues related to Rail Baltica have been classified, seemingly to avoid public involvement and scrutiny of how taxpayers’ money is being spent,” said Armands Krauze, chairman of the ZZS board.
The ZZS parliamentary faction has formally addressed the Ministry of Transport, calling for a decision to revoke the restricted-access status of the information.
According to information from RB Rail,
the cost of the first phase of Rail Baltica in the Baltic states could reach 14.3 billion euros,
including 5.5 billion euros in Latvia. However, potential savings of up to 500 million euros may be achieved through optimisation of technical solutions, with additional savings also possible.
Overall project costs, according to the cost-benefit analysis, could reach 23.8 billion euros across the Baltic states. In an earlier cost-benefit analysis conducted in 2017, the total cost of the project was estimated at 5.8 billion euros.
The Rail Baltica project aims to build a European-standard gauge railway line from Tallinn to the Lithuania–Poland border, enabling the Baltic states to be connected by rail to the rest of Europe. In the Baltic countries, a new 870-kilometre railway line with the European gauge of 1,435 mm is planned, allowing trains to reach speeds of up to 240 km/h.
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