The preparations before construction of the nearly EUR 126 million worth Liepaja Prison project are going as planned, said Latvian Minister of Justice Inese Lībiņa-Egnere in an interview to TV3 programme 900 seconds on Wednesday, the 26th of July.
She reported that melioration and preparation work is underway. In September it will be possible to commence construction. This is also when it is planned to bury a time capsule.
The prison itself is planned to be completed by September 2025. Training prison staff will take about half a year.
This means the prison should open officially and start receiving convicts in Q1 2026, said the minister.
She also mentioned that talks with Liepaja City Council are underway to secure workers for the new prison as quickly as possible.
As previously reported, the more than EUR 125.87 million (excluding VAT) worth contract for the design for the design, supervision and construction works of the long-expected new Liepaja Prison was signed last November between the state LLC Tiesu namu aģentūra and the winner of the procurement LLC Citrus Solutions.
Before then the Latvian government permitted the Ministry of Justice to take on long-term budget commitments needed for the construction of a new prison. The total four-year state budget funding for this project was set at no more than EUR 175 643 319. As the ministry previously said, Liepaja Prison will assist with the implementation of a new sentence-enforcement system and the improvement of the re-socialisation process.
Active construction of the prison is scheduled to commence in 2024.
According to information from Firmas.lv, the company Citrus Solutions was founded in 2005. Its base capital is EUR 5 070 999. In 2021 the company’s turnover was EUR 29.23 million and profits were EUR 1.01 million. Citrus Solutions is part of LLC Tet Group.
Also read: Russian Defense Minister to visit North Korea