On Thursday, 25 November, Latvia’s Saeima agreed to divert EUR 15.1 million from grants previously allocated toward the procurement of new trains and the construction of a new repair depot in favour of the state budget project for emergencies.
The parliament agreed to allocate EUR 15 103 400 towards this budget programme.
One of the sub-programmes affected is the Ministry of Transport programme for the procurement of new trains and construction of a repair centre – EUR 15 053 400 will be taken from here. The other is the Sector Management and Policy Planning programme – EUR 50 000 will be taken from here.
Previously the Ministry of Transport explained that according to the information received from AS Pasažieru vilciens, there are multiple conditions that have affected the implementation of the electric trains procurement project. As a result of Covid-19 pandemic there was a delay with the manufacture of trains. There were also changes made to Latvian Railway radio communications system.
Considering the new situation, it is no longer possible to realize the funding allocated for train procurement and repair depot construction in 2021.
