On Thursday, 18 January, the External Border Infrastructure Construction Supervisory Committee met to discuss progress on the construction of the eastern border infrastructure.
On 16 January, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the Government Action Plan for the implementation of the Declaration on the actions envisaged by the Cabinet of Ministers chaired by Evika Siliņa. The Government Action Plan also endorses a number of priorities put forward by the interior affairs sector and the Minister of the Interior Rihards Kozlovskis. One of them - the continuation of the construction of the eastern border, including equipping it with smart technologies.
At the meeting of the Supervisory Committee, SJSC “State Real Estate”, to which the organization of the construction of the border infrastructure (except for the technological solution) has been delegated, informed the Committee on the progress of the construction of the Latvian–Belarusian and Latvian–Russian border infrastructure.
On the border with Belarus, fencing continues in 2024 along sections of public rivers. It is scheduled to be completed by the end of July this year. It has already been reported that fence construction works on the land sections of the Latvian–Belarusian State border, 112 km in length, were completed at the end of 2023. In parallel, the construction of other infrastructure (footbridges, patrol trails, etc.) is ongoing. In the priority sections, the construction is expected to be completed already this year. Technical specifications have also been drawn up and it is planned to organize a tender in the near future for the final phase of infrastructure construction on the border with Belarus, which includes the construction of dredging roads at Lake Riču.
The first contracts have also been signed for the construction of an additional fence on the border with Russia (for a section of approximately 28 km), and decisions have been taken on several parts of the price consultation for the construction of a fence on the border with Russia for a further 65 km section. In addition, tenders have been issued for the construction of a fence along a further 37 km section, and activities are underway to organize the construction of a fence along a further 20 km section with the support of the NAF. The sections where the State Border Guard prioritizes the construction of the fence are planned to be constructed this year.
Overall, the infrastructure of Latvia’s eastern border (excluding the technological infrastructure) is planned to be fully constructed by the end of 2025 in order to have a modern and efficient border protection infrastructure in place along the entire eastern border.
In turn, SJSC “Latvian State Radio and Television Centre”, which has been delegated to organize the construction of technological infrastructure on the eastern border of the country, informed at today’s meeting that at the end of 2023, on the basis of the organized selection procedures, construction contracts for the construction of technological infrastructure on the border with Belarus in priority stages have been concluded, as well as technical specifications have been prepared and tenders will be organized shortly for the completion of the construction of technological infrastructure on the border with Belarus and the start of its construction on the border with Russia.
The Supervisory Committee is composed of representatives from the Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Economics, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, State Border Guard, State Agency for Security, SJSC “Latvian State Radio and Television Centre”, SRE, JSC “Latvia’s State Forests”, Latvian Geospatial Information Agency and National Armed Forces.
Prepared by:
Ministry of the Interior
Communication Department