The Association of Lithuanian Municipalities (LSA) and the association “Lietuvos keliai” applied to the Seimas and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania with a request for planning the 2023 state budget to properly assess the current critical state of the country’s roads and the growing need for funding for road repairs and the construction of new roads and road infrastructure.
“The poor and deteriorating state of Lithuanian roads is not only noted by the responsible bodies and institutions, it becomes obvious as soon as you turn off the country’s largest highways. This problem is faced by many residents of the country, who are forced to travel on outdated roads that no longer meet safety and other requirements,” says Mindaugas Sinkevičius, president of the Association of Lithuanian Municipalities.
According to M. Sinkevičius, the associations, while paying attention to the sensitive issue, also take into account the situation in which the state is in due to the war in Ukraine and the rising prices of energy resources, especially with increasing costs to compensate for energy prices. “Aware of the extraordinary situation in the country, we offer solutions to attract additional funding and call for the mobilization of political will so that the planned necessary initiatives do not remain only on paper,” says the president of the association.
Šarūnas Frolenko, head of the Lietuvos keliai association, points out that if the situation is not resolved immediately, the need for funds will increase significantly in the future. “If the road is not repaired on time, later it is no longer enough and capital repair work has to be undertaken – thus the costs for repairing the same road section can increase several or even a dozen times”, says Š. Frolenko.
According to him, due to the fact that, according to official data, almost 40 percent the country’s roads do not meet the requirements for pavement quality, the long-term underfunding of this strategically important infrastructure of the country is to blame.
The solution to securing additional funding for roads is one that needs to be implemented
To ensure additional financing for the country’s road infrastructure, the implementation plan of the program provisions of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania provides a measure – to establish an infrastructure development fund to ensure sustainable financing of transportation infrastructure.
Associations support such a proposal and believe that creating a fund is necessary to save the country’s road infrastructure from further decline. “We call on the Government to create a fund and consider the start of its activity as one of the essential priorities in the road sector. We ask the Ministry of Transport to make every effort to establish the fund as soon as possible. We also appeal to the Seimas Committees on Economy, Budget and Finance, and State Administration and Municipalities with a request to ensure parliamentary control over the creation of the fund,” states the letter of the Association of Lithuanian Municipalities and Association “Lietuvos kelaiai” to state institutions.
M. Sinkevičius points out that according to the implementation plan of the provisions of the Government program, this infrastructure development fund must be established in 2022. However, it is obvious that the decision will not be implemented on time.
The head of the association “Lietuvos keliai” uniting road construction companies and scientific institutions Š. Frolenko agrees that the creation of such a fund is more important than ever, but until it is created and operational, the head of the association calls for funding for roads in 2023. in the state budget, no less than 900 mln. amount of euros. “Such level of financing would help offset inflation and prevent the condition of the country’s roads from further deteriorating,” says Š. Frolenko.
Funding for roads is steadily declining
The Association of Lithuanian Municipalities and the association “Lietuvos keliai” draw attention to the fact that the financing of the road sector in the last decade, after taking into account inflation and real purchasing power, is constantly decreasing. The decreasing funding for roads is justified by the ratio of funding allocated to roads to the overall national budget – as the state budget grows, funding for road infrastructure moves in the opposite direction. The decreasing funding is also shown by the ratio of the allocated budget to the state’s income from fuel excise, which recently reached only 60%. amounts collected.
The need to increase funding is clearly shown by the fact that in 2015 for 1 million EUR 3.26 km of road could be built, and in 2022 – only 2.34 km (30% less) of the road with the same parameters.
A multifaceted problem
According to Sh. Frolenko, the poor quality of roads poses many threats to the country’s society and state. “Obsolete roads that do not meet the quality requirements are a danger to people’s safety, as a result of which the probability of accidents or even deaths on the roads increases, the operation of such roads increases the cost of energy resources and hinders the achievement of the goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, therefore there is a risk of financial sanctions and reputational damage to the state” , – points out the head of the “Lietuvos kelaiai” association.
The need of municipalities to improve road infrastructure is close to 3 billion. euros
According to the Association of Lithuanian Municipalities, the need for investments related to road infrastructure until 2030 amounts to almost 2 billion euros (1,939,480,566 euros). Forecasting unknown (future) phenomena and assuming that the conditions will not fundamentally change, according to experts’ estimates, the real need for investments will reach about 3 billion by the end of this decade. euros (2,922,685,698 euros).
Tags: LSA association Lietuvos keliai warn deteriorating condition roads suggestions ensure adequate funding
-
