LPS and the Ministry of Transport agree on additional funding for the renovation of highways and transit roads

The talks were led by LPS Chairman Gints Kaminskis and Transport Minister Kaspars Briškens.

During the negotiations, the parties agreed on the need to provide an additional 6.15 million in the state budget. euros, in order to ensure the amount of co-financing of maintenance and construction of transit roads corresponding to the current situation. Taking into account the agreements of the Cabinet of Ministers and the LPS – the disagreement protocol, the MoU in cooperation with local governments has developed a new policy for financing transit roads, which will improve their technical condition.

The new approach provides that from now on all transit streets with an intensity of 500 vehicles will receive 75% co-financing from the state budget for the daily maintenance of the roadway. For transit streets connecting important places with 1,200 vehicles per day, the co-financing of the state budget will be 75% for the renewal of the road surface. On the other hand, 50% for the construction of transit streets connecting a significant area with 1,200 vehicles per day, including the rebuilding of the bridge or overpass that is part of it.

A common agreement was reached during the negotiations that the MoU will request an additional 20 million from the state budget. euros per year for the improvement of the country’s local roads in the next three years. In order to restore the country’s local roads, at least 40 million must be invested annually. euro. However, currently, an average of 26 million is allocated from the state budget for this purpose. euros per year.

In the negotiations, a significant agreement was also reached on the maintenance of the country’s local roads. It is planned to make changes in regulatory acts, providing special road maintenance procedures for those sections of roads on which the vehicles of public transport service providers and municipalities move when transporting schoolchildren. Namely, the maintenance will be carried out not only according to the class suitable for the road, but according to the social importance, where, above all, the maintenance of the road should be carried out as a priority in order to ensure the transportation of students and the movement of public transport.

One of the important issues of negotiations is the future policy of targeted grants for municipal roads and streets for 2025. In the last 2 years, the financing for local governments does not correspond to the determined ratio between the state and local governments, as a result of which financial resources were allocated to local governments in the amount of 6.4 million. EUR less than stipulated in the Highway Law. Currently, there are no specific criteria for the total amount of targeted grants, it is determined according to the possibilities of the state budget. At the same time, goals are defined where financial resources should be invested, but the overarching goal and the minimum amount of funds that the state is trying to achieve by allocating targeted grants are not defined. In the LPS negotiations, it was emphasized that the ever-increasing disproportion should be immediately eliminated by increasing the share of local governments until the amount of funding for 2008 is reached.

While discussing the direction of the reform of the school network, LPS and SM agreed to continue cooperation in determining priority road sections to be repaired. In the context of the mentioned reform, significant financial resources will be needed for road repair works, as mainly the national regional and local gravel roads in bad condition will have to be restored in order to ensure safe transportation of students to educational institutions.

On the other hand, in the matter of public transport, the parties agreed that the current base funding poses serious risks to the availability of public transport. There is still a tendency that the state budget base does not include funding to cover the obligations assumed by the state or to fulfill the concluded contracts. Currently, there is a shortage of 14.71 million for passenger transport by public transport. euro. Therefore, in the negotiations, the parties agreed that the MoU, together with the Road Transport Directorate, will prepare an informative report on the measures to be taken to attract the necessary additional funding for the compensation of public transport services to ensure the compensation of the uncovered losses from the performance of public transport service order contracts in 2024. Also, in September of this year, in the National Economy Committee of the LPS, the MoU will provide updated information on the amount of additional necessary funding in 2025.

On the other hand, in connection with the introduction of new tariffs for public transport services, LPS emphasized that it also affected school transport in many places, creating an additional financial burden. Therefore, an agreement was reached in the negotiations to jointly develop the justification for the additional funding request for 2024 for additional expenses in the provision of public transport services and their changes under the influence of the reform of the school network.

In the matter of VAS Latvian Post developed new strategy, the LPS emphasized in the negotiations that it is important to talk with each municipality individually and agree on the network of post offices in the specific territory in order to ensure the availability of the service to the citizens and to find a solution in the context of the postal payment system. Also, communication and explanation of the planned decisions to the citizens must be continued. At the same time, the LPS invites the MoU to be defined Latvian Post non-financial objectives to mitigate the impact of post office network review on postal service recipients and to ensure the continuity of the postal payment system.

Currently, there is no consensus on the possibilities of achieving the target indicators in connection with the implementation of the principles of climate neutrality in the field of transport. LPS invites to start negotiations on an MoU with the Ministry of Climate and Energy and the Ministry of Economy. LPS will ensure participation in working groups to solve this issue.