Almost half of the fence on the Belarusian border along the rivers has been built

The construction of five communication towers and access roads to them is planned to be completed by the end of this year, the sixth – in the first half of 2025.

The communication towers are part of the smart country’s external land border monitoring system, which is being created for the effective protection of Latvia’s border and guaranteeing the national security interests. For the construction of communication towers and access roads to them, VNĪ has been allocated financing in the amount of about 3.6 million euros including VAT. EU funds have been allocated for this purpose.

On the other hand, in the fourth or last round of the Latvian-Belarusian border guard infrastructure construction, in the price survey announced by VNĪ, the construction contractor “Latvijas autoceļu ušťētējs” has been chosen for the construction of roadways and infrastructure around Lake Riču, with which it is planned to conclude a contract for design, construction and road supervision for 3,880,568.79 euros. with VAT.

The planned bypass roads will allow the border guards to move quickly along the shore of the water body, thus effectively reacting to possible violations – unauthorized entry of people or goods into Latvia. The maximum term of performance of works is 52 calendar weeks from the conclusion of the contract. It is planned that the construction of bypass roads and the necessary infrastructure around Richu Lake will be completed in 2025.

By a special law at the end of 2021, the border infrastructure construction process was handed over to VNĪ, instructing VNĪ to manage, implement and organize the construction of the infrastructure of Latvia’s external border.

The implementation of the construction of the eastern border is monitored by the External Border Infrastructure Construction Monitoring Committee, which consists of representatives from the Ministry of Defence, Interior, Foreign Affairs, Economy, Transport, Agriculture and Environmental Protection and Regional Development, the State Border Guard, the State Security Agency, “Latvian State Radio and Television Center “, VNĪ, “Latvijas valsts mežiem”, Latvian Geospatial Information Agency and the National Armed Forces.

VNĪ was founded in 1996, its 100% shareholder is the Ministry of Finance.