Baiba Rubesa, CEO, the project’s coordinator RB Rail, said that the costs of Rail Baltica may amount to EUR 5 billion, instead of the initially planned cost of EUR 3.68 billion. “As Rail Baltica projections are becoming clearer, it is evident that the total cost of the Rail Baltic project will be higher than the original estimate of EUR 3.68 billion,” Rubesa said.
The Lithuanian government is planning to support the Rail Baltica line from Kaunas to the border with Latvia in December, Lithuanian Transport and Communications Ministry’s representative Nerijus Kaucikas said during a press conference. The failure of Lithuania’s state-run railway company Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways, LG) to sign the contract on the public procurement scheme for the Rail Baltica project was due to exclusively technical reasons, a Lithuanian representative has said.
RB Rail council member Indrek Orav confirmed that Rail Baltica route in Estonia had been formally approved, but public discussions were still continuing..
Latvian Transport Ministry’s spokeswoman Ilze Greiskalna told LETA that the increase of the estimated financing is logical and grounded, and the three Baltic states and RB Rail are providing regular information about it to the European Commission.
Rail Baltica project was 3.68 billion estimated at around EUR 4 billion of which EU would cover 85% of costs. The total line length will be of around 1,390 km of which 360 km in Lithuania, 300 km in Latvia, 300 km in Estonia and 430 km in Poland.
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