The Baltic neighbors have an agreement that each country contributes a proportional amount to RB Rail each year for the company’s administrative expenses. These contributions are to be made from each country’s budget.
This year, Latvia should have contributed more than €900,000, but so far it has not done so, Kristīne Malnača, Deputy State Secretary for Rail Baltica at the Ministry of Transport, told Latvian Radio’s “Good Morning” program.
She said that the ministry had already asked the government for money in the summer but without success.
“Starting from the summer, we have had quite a hard time in the government with any decision on the Rail Baltica project. You can understand that these decisions are not coming easily at the moment, because there are really a lot of unanswered questions about how to proceed, how to move forward.”
The Ministry of Transport has prepared an information report on the additional state budget funding needed in 2024 and 2025. The total amount requested is more than €20 million, which is needed this year to continue work on Riga Central Railway Station and Riga Airport Station. Nearly one million of this amount is a contribution to the RB Rail Fund.
Malnača agreed that the expenditure related to RB Rail was known and was not sudden, but the money is being requested from contingency funds because “historically it has worked out that way and it has worked out that way until this year”.
Latvijas Radio also asked Prime Minister Evika Siliņa (New Unity) to comment on the situation, but so far there has been no reply.
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