Lithuanian public railway company LTG Infra will postpone a construction project to build a railway line worth 60 million euros as the firm is cautious over the effects of Western sanctions on Belarus, Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT reports.
The plan was to build a second railway line in north-western Lithuania, from Plungė to Šateikiai. «The geopolitical situation regarding sanctions imposed on Belarus by the European Union and the United States forces us to reconsider the return on investment of some projects,» LTG Infra noted said in a press release.
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«We anticipate that sanctions could have a negative impact on the full utilisation of public railway infrastructure capacity due to lower freight and passenger flows, as well as on the company’s revenue. Having evaluated these risks, we temporarily suspend implementation of the project worth 60 million euros,» the company’s management reasoned.
The project involved reconstruction of the existing 13.9-kilometre-long railway line in north-western Lithuania and construction of a new line. The renewal of the project might be considered in 2022.
The article originally appeared on LRT English: https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1518074/lithuania-suspends-eur60m-railway-project-due-to-sanctions-on-minsk
Lithuanian railway project worth EUR 60m stopped over effects of Belarus sanctions
