According to Latvijas Dzelzcels (LDz)’s vice president Aivars Straksas, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has expressed willingness to provide all the necessary financing for the rail electrification project of LDz on better terms than initially expected.
At the end of October, representatives of LDz and the Transport Ministry told members of the Saeima Public Expenditure and Audit Committee that, based on Eurostat’s findings, the EUR 120 million increase of LDz’s capital, which would be necessary for the electrification project, would leave an impact on Latvia’s budget, and it was suggested that the plan to electrify the railway from Latgale to Riga could be replaced with a reconstruction of the already electrified railway section in the Riga Region.
With EIB’s help, the rail company is now prepared to go ahead with the project’s implementation as originally planned, providing power to the railway network from Daugavpils and Rezekne in south-eastern Latvia to the Latvian capital Riga via Krustpils. LDz is also planning to find ways to save some of the project’s costs by analyzing Belarus and Lithuania’s activities in relation to the electrification project.
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