The media and publicity, it seems, forced to find money for the reconstruction of the bridge: “Via Lietuva” rushed to “put out the fire”

“Via Lietuva” today rushed to “put out the fire” and unexpectedly shared a press release in which it informed the public that it is preparing to start reconstruction The bridge that collapsed in January 2023 over Nevėžis in Kėdainiai. However, in reality, the company did not indicate when it will fix the bridge, nor when it will start maintenance work, but only announced that it has announced a tender for the contractor and said that it hopes to start the work this year. True, it is a strange coincidence that such a press release appeared only after the publication of “Market Square” appeared, which contained the director of “Via Lietuva” was quoted as saying that there is no money for the bridge, and this publication was reprinted by the LRT portal. The representatives of “Via Lietuva”, who attacked “Market Square” since the morning, tried to prove to the editors that the article was allegedly false, but when it turned out that the facts mentioned in the article were presented by the director of “Via Lietuva” himself, finally today “Via Lietuva” simply… announced a public tender and lost this news to the public, possibly trying to cover up the director’s statements in Kėdainiai, which were not very favorable to the company’s reputation.

After M. Švaikauskas’ words were made public, they rushed to correct the situation

The repair of the bridge in Kėdainiai was first attempted by the Economic Committee of the Seimas, which organized an exit meeting in Kėdainiai. The outgoing meeting of the Seimas Economic Committee was held in Kėdainiai three weeks ago. The head of “Via Lietuva” Marius Švaikauskas, who spoke at the meeting, did not hide that the company lacks money for projects, and there is no money at all for the repair of the bridge in Kėdainiai, but he added that the procedures are not stopped because of this. Even then, he said that public procurement procedures do not stop and are carried out, even in the absence of money. So the fact that a public tender has been announced is basically a kind of news, because M. Švaikauskas already spoke about it three weeks ago.

“Bridge repair works are quite difficult to buy, and the value of this bridge in particular is not high, so we first take a consultation so that market participants themselves submit their proposals and ideas related to bridge repair works.

Funding means for the reconstruction of this bridge – in short, there are no funds”, said the head of the company at the time.

“Funding means for the reconstruction of this bridge – in short, there are no funds,” said the head of the company at the time.

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After the article appeared in the public space, from the morning of May 10, even before the start of the working day, “Via Lietuva” honored the editors of “Rinka aištės” and the editors of “LRT” who shared the article with calls, claiming that the article contained false information – that purchases are taking place , the money is there, the numbers indicated are incorrect.

However, the recording of the meeting shows something completely different – the numbers and statements that M. Švaikauskas made then appeared in the press.

Finally, at 11 a.m. on the same day. 45 minutes “Via Lietuva” announced a public procurement for the reconstruction of the bridge, and around 2 p.m. 30 minutes shared a press release with news agencies about it.

Despite the fact that “Rinkas aištė” had asked the company to share information, financial changes, and inquired about how much money and where it had come from for the reconstruction of the bridge, the company refused to do so.

So the name of the Road Directorate has changed, but the working methods, it seems, not so much…

The money for the Kėdainiai bridge was taken from other projects

According to “Via Lietuvos”, the financing of Kėdainių Tilto st. bridge was found a few weeks ago, after deciding not to do other planned and necessary work, but to repair this bridge.

True, this somehow strangely does not coincide with the fact that a few, or rather, three weeks ago, the director publicly told the politicians and businessmen of Kėdainiai and the capital that there is no money for the bridge…

Not only that, the fact that the company took money from other “necessary works” also raises the question of how reliable the company’s plans and promises are. If some “necessary works” were already planned, funding was allocated for them, but suddenly the plans are stopped, the funding disappears and is transferred elsewhere, what message does this send to those who were waiting for those “necessary works” and hoped that they are already here ?

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Not only that, the fact that the company took money from other “necessary works” also raises the question of how reliable the company’s plans and promises are.

If some “necessary works” were already planned, funding was allocated for them, but suddenly the plans are stopped, the funding disappears and is transferred elsewhere, what message does this send to those who were waiting for those “necessary works” and hoped that they are already here ?

Probably no news. Probably, while the people of Kedaine are happy, something is lurking: the plan was there, the money was already there, but someone snuck the works out of their minds.

The company also refuses to comment on how much money was withdrawn from other projects and transferred to the Kėdainiai bridge.

All that is known is that the deadline for the supply of goods, provision of services or performance of works specified in the published public tender is 18 months.

So, all we know is that, at best, once a contractor is in place, the bridge will take about a year and a half to repair.

It is not clear when the contractor will appear, nor when exactly the work will start, but maybe this year.

We will remind you that the bridge collapsed on January 31, 2023. The collapsed beam of the bridge was pulled out of the river only after a good two months, and traffic on the bridge was resumed only half a year later. So now, neither much nor little has passed – almost a year and a half – permission to reconstruct the bridge has finally been obtained.

So, in general, the river-facing bridge in Lithuania will be repaired within, at best… 3-4 years.