An internal investigation into the unfinished Rail Baltica bridge support in the Daugava River and the partially constructed railway overpass in Mārupe has concluded that the government’s decision was implemented only partially because the Cabinet had set different project priorities, Deputy Director of the State Chancellery and head of the Cross-Sectoral Coordination Department Pēteris Vilks told the LETA news agency.
He explained that the government’s decision had been partially implemented because the Cabinet had clearly stated that the project’s priorities were not the construction of the southern connection to Riga Airport and the Daugava bridge.
“Of course, it was a process to stop it because commitments had already been undertaken both with the European Union and with the builders. In other words, construction continued partially by inertia,” Vilks explained.
The head of the coordination department stated that the review assessed how precisely the government’s decision of the 10th of December, 2024 had been implemented. According to him, this was the first serious attempt to reassess the entire project. Until then, the project had mainly experienced rising costs and expanded scope, while funding reviews had not been carried out.
Government decision stipulated that implementation of the first-stage tasks must be ensured according to available funding,
without undertaking financial obligations lacking appropriate financial coverage, according to the Cabinet protocol decision.
He also informed that the internal commission had identified certain facts, received explanations from the Ministry of Transport and SIA Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas (EDZL) and that this information would be forwarded to the Prosecutor General’s office.
Meanwhile, during Tuesday’s government meeting, Economy Minister Viktors Valainis of the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) stated that, in essence, a decision contrary to the government’s instructions had been made based on the builder’s conclusions.
“The builders’ lobby has been stronger than the government’s decision,” the minister said.
Valainis stressed that,
given Latvia’s fiscal situation, organizing construction projects of such scale in this manner is unacceptable.
He noted that the report demonstrates institutions continued investing funds into projects already known would not be implemented, thereby diverting resources from other sectors of the economy.
The minister argued that after the government decision prioritizing the main railway line, all further decisions should have been taken at Cabinet level or, at minimum, the government should have been fully informed about developments. According to Valainis, the situation once again demonstrates serious governance problems within the project. Although ministers have changed throughout the project’s implementation, he said the issue is deeper and requires serious discussion about the Ministry of Transport’s governance model.
The minister also emphasized that government decisions were ignored in this case. He pointed out that although a state-owned company is responsible for implementation, its shareholder – the Ministry of Transport – had received a clear government mandate that was not fulfilled.
According to Valainis,
the government had the right to decide whether to assume certain risks or avoid them,
but in this case the shareholder allowed tens of millions of euros to be invested into a direction already known to be unpromising. He added that, based on the information in the report, the European Commission would have agreed to reallocate the funding.
Transport Minister Atis Švinka stated that it is difficult to argue with the Ministry of Economics when it lacks expertise in certain matters. He stressed that the builder is not EDzL itself, but the consortium B.S.L. Infra, which is implementing the Rail Baltica station and related infrastructure project at Riga Airport, while the builder of the Riga Central Hub is BeReRix. EDzL acts as the national implementing body representing Latvia, while construction work is carried out by contractors.
Švinka also stated that the Ministry of Transport does not agree with all of the commission’s conclusions. He said he would have preferred more time and opportunity for the ministry to provide additional explanations and stressed the need for Cabinet members to be more thoroughly informed about the findings so they could better understand the situation.
According to Švinka,
the ministry submitted several clarifications and additions during the commission’s work,
but some of them were allegedly ignored or reflected only partially.
The minister also stressed that project commitments should be assesed not by payments made, but from the moment EDZL authorized construction works and material orders.
At the meeting, Ministry of Transport State Secretary Andulis Židkovs emphasized that decisions were essentially taken in the state’s best interests.
“Perhaps formally we can be criticized for only coming with the report in October. The Cabinet decision of the 10th of December, 2024 required the government to be informed immediately and proposals for further action to be submitted, but preparing such proposals required Cohesion Fund reallocations so the ministry could find solutions,” he said.
The ministry representative added that an international review of the Rail Baltica project is currently underway, including an assessment of future project governance. He said the government should wait a few more months until the work is completed and recommendations for improving project management are presented.
During the meeting,
Finance Minister Arvils Ašeradens asked what the current total cost of the Rail Baltica project is.
Židkovs replied that international consultants had been tasked with evaluating the minimum scope required to connect Lithuania and Estonia, while inflation had also increased costs.
“Now, excluding the Riga loop, in 2023 prices this could amount to 6.5 billion euros, but inflation and rising prices must also be taken into account,” Židkovs said.
He also explained that the projects continued based on the ministry’s calculations and several considerations regarding what would be most beneficial for the state. According to him, halting construction entirely would have meant no longer being able to apply for EU funding for those projects, making completion the more advantageous option.
Prime Minister Evika Siliņa stated during the meeting that after hearing the report, former Transport Minister and current Member of Parliament Kaspars Briškens should no longer participate in parliamentary decisions concerning Rail Baltica because he allegedly has a direct conflict of interest.
The Prime Minister highlighted that
Briškens had served on the supervisory board of the Baltic joint venture RB Rail,
held other roles in implementing Rail Baltica, and later became transport minister.
“And now what is he doing in parliament? Deciding on a project in which he created the mess that others will now have to answer for,” Siliņa criticized.
She admitted that project governance is currently a major challenge. Politically, responsibility could theoretically fall even on the President, she said, but neither the President, nor the Prime Minister, nor the Cabinet can directly manage railway construction.
She questioned whether the governance model is appropriate at all if RB Rail considers itself independent and not subject to government decisions. “This demonstrates a serious weakness in state governance,” Siliņa concluded.
As previously reported by LETA, the government agreed on the 10th of March this year to establish two internal review commissions to assess the RB Rail procurement for railway switches and expansion joints, as well as the unfinished bridge support in the Daugava and the partially built railway overpass in Mārupe.
The first review concluded that no legal violations were identified in the procurement process,
although the commission believed RB Rail had not done everything objectively possible as a “careful and responsible” manager to ensure effective competition.
The second commission was tasked with evaluating whether the unfinished structures complied with government decisions, including the justification and usefulness of the solutions, their impact on Latvia’s economy and state budget in previous and future years, compliance with EU funding objectives and conditions, and the possible responsibility of officials involved.
The commission includes Ministry of Economics State Secretary Raivis Bremšmits as chair, Finance Ministry State Secretary Baiba Bāne, Interior Ministry State Secretary Dimitrijs Trofimovs, Culture Ministry State Secretary Dace Vilsone, and Vilks.
It was also reported that the long-term conservation costs of the first-stage engineering structures of the Rail Baltica bridge across the Daugava were estimated at 551 000 euros in February this year.
The report includes information about provisional conservation costs for structures
within the Riga Central Station area, as well as the section near Riga Airport extending toward Mārupe, together with funding allocations planned for 2026–2027.
The Ministry of Transport stated in February that it planned to prepare an informational report on the conservation works required for unfinished Rail Baltica structures and the necessary state budget funding for Cabinet approval.
Švinka previously stated that conservation works must begin this year and would include the railway bridge support and span across the Daugava, the supports for the Riga Airport railway station section toward Mārupe, as well as retaining walls and other related structural elements.
As previously reported, the first-stage costs of Rail Baltica in the Baltic states could reach 14.3 billion euros, including 5.5 billion euros in Latvia, although indexation could push the Latvian share to 6 billion euros.
According to the latest cost-benefit analysis, the total project costs across the Baltics could reach 23.8 billion euros. The previous 2017 analysis estimated the total cost at 5.8 billion euros.
The Rail Baltica project aims to create a European-standard railway line from Tallinn to the Lithuanian-Polish border, connecting the Baltic states to the wider European rail network. The project foresees construction of a new 870-kilometre railway line with European gauge tracks (1435 mm) and trains capable of speeds of up to 240 kilometres per hour.
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