The interim report clearly points to the moment when the Rail Baltica “train derailed”, said Andris Kulbergs (AS), the head of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on the Rail Baltica project, at the Saeima today.
On Thursday, the Saeima examined the interim report of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on the implementation of the Rail Baltica project.
Kulbergs noted that the Commission’s findings are a litmus test for the Cabinet of Ministers – so that the government can demonstrate to the public that the mistakes made by ministers in the relevant sectors have finally been identified and understood and will be corrected, so that we do not all have to pay twice for the negligence.
“From the moment the interim report is made public, the accountability (not just political accountability) meter starts running for all ministers in the current government,” stresses the head of the commission.
Latvia’s projected cost for Rail Baltica has increased from 1.97 billion euro to 9.59 billion euro.
The Commission of Inquiry has indicated that the Interim Report is not a full final report, therefore the full conclusions and proposals of the Commission will be finalised and included in the final report. However, the commission has already at this stage of the process reached concrete findings and conclusions by including a number of preliminary conclusions in the interim report.
The Commission of Inquiry’s interim report includes 13 conclusions, including on why the project was delayed by at least three years, as well as on the responsibility of officials from the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy and the relevant capital companies involved in the project.
The Saeima Commission of Inquiry has so far held 16 meetings, as well as visited Rail Baltica stations at Riga Airport and the railway station.
The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry was established by the Saeima on the 13th of June this year at the request of 34 MPs to monitor the implementation of the Rail Baltica project. Its task is to identify the mistakes made in the implementation of the project, while ensuring that it becomes a priority issue for the Government, so that decisions are taken in a transparent and timely manner, taking into account the national and public interest, as well as the impact on the economy and the state budget. The Commission of Inquiry was set up for a six-month period.