On 30 November, the Ministry of the Interior submitted border infrastructure progress report to the government. The report summarises status on the construction of the temporary fence on the Latvian-Belarusian border, as well as progress on the construction of the permanent infrastructure. The government acknowledged the progress report.
Construction of the 37 km temporary fence on the border with Belarus started on 6 October and was completed on 24 November. The work was carried out simultaneously in the sections designated by the State Border Guard where there are the highest risks of illegal border crossings - in the territories of the border guard units of Robeznieki, Skaune, Silene, Kaplava and Piedruja. State Border Guard has proposed to reinforce an additional section of 22.8 km.
To speed up the construction of permanent infrastructure along the Latvian-Belarusian and the Latvian-Russian Federation state border, the Ministry of the Interior drafted a special law on the construction of the external land border, which entered into force on 14 November 2021. The territory necessary for building of the external border infrastructure will be determined by the State Border Guard in cooperation with the Provision State Agency. The construction of the infrastructure will be organised and provided by the state joint stock company State Real Estate. In order to rapidly settle all unclear issues arising in relation to the above-mentioned construction process without delays, as well as supervise and coordinate the course of actions in a unified manner, the Supervisory Committee for Building of the External Border Infrastructure will be established, led by the Minister of the Interior M.Golubeva.
The Provision State Agency in cooperation with the State Border Guard has defined the requirements for the development of the project. Technical specifications for the implementation of the construction project have been developed by the Provision State Agency according to the ‘design and build’ construction method. The Provision State Agency has also signed a contract with the Latvian State Forest Research Institute “Silava” for the preparation of a map of animal movement routes, which is an essential prerequisite for the development of the construction project.
In order to ensure the construction of the necessary infrastructure for the protection of the external land border of the country, the Provision State Agency continues its work on cadastral surveying, and expropriation of land units.
The planned funding for the construction of the infrastructure necessary for the protection of the external borders of the State is EUR 899 579 in 2021, EUR 16 923 461 in 2022, EUR 19 801 070 in 2023 and EUR 6 584 479 in 2024.
Pending the completion of the state border, the Ministry of the Interior will present a detailed report to the Parliament by 1 December each year on the progress of the construction of the state border, the financial resources used and the timber resources expropriated.