In his words, a deal with the contractor should be signed this summer.
“The procedures to purchase contracting work should start on Friday (…). We hope that the procedures will not take long, as it is an important project. We believe we will have the contract in July,” Andrejevas told BNS.
The administration last year gave up the idea of reconstructing the road by way of public and private partnership and will now finance the project from the Road Maintenance and Development Program. In Andrejevas’ words, renovation of the initial 5 km and construction of two new intersections will cost around 25 million euros.
Reconstruction of the entire 70-km highway should be completed by 2022.
Discussions about the need to renovate the highway started back in 2013, however, the project stalled at the government and the parliament.
Built in 1985, the highway was intended for military purposes.
The project was also mentioned in the political corruption scandal involving the Liberal Movement’s former leader Eligijus Masiulis and MG Baltic concern’s former vice-president Raimondas Kurlianskis.