Both the government and the Ministry of Transport and Communications have highlighted the need for this project. The Vilnius-Utena highway was initially constructed several decades ago. In the last ten years traffic has nearly doubled, causing the concrete road to become bumpy and therefore both uncomfortable and unsafe to drive on.
The EUR 80m reconstruction project was approved by the Ministry of Finance and the government in July 2014. Parliamentary approval will be the final step in the governmental authorisation process. According to Prime Minister of The Republic of Lithuania Mr. Algirdas Butkevičius, there is strong political will to implement this project.
"Vilnius-Utena highway project will be submitted to the Parliament in March 2015, just after the start of the spring session. There is unanimous agreement that the reconstruction is necessary, with discussions still being held only on the specifics of implementation", said Mr. Butkevičius.
Lithuania already has experience of such ventures – the PPP method was successfully adopted in the construction of the Palanga bypass. Nonetheless, the Vilnius-Utena highway will be the biggest PPP project in the road sector in Lithuania. The project's scope encompasses the design and reconstruction of sections of the Vilnius-Utena highway totalling 72.1 kilometres. Following completion of the work, the contracted party will be required to carry out regular maintenance of the highway in order to ensure the proper functioning and effectiveness of the infrastructure.
According to Mr. Tadas Jagminas, Director of the Project Management Department of Invest Lithuania, after the project is approved by the Parliament, public procurement is expected to start before the end of 2015.
"We believe we will be able to ensure adequate competition for this tender, and that we will attract investors with proven experience of implementing projects of such size," said Mr. Jagminas.
The overall project, in terms of future availability payments, has a total budget of EUR 175m.
