Home > Aktuāli > Kekava bypass is opened to traffic Chairman of the Board of SLLC Latvian State Roads Deputy Director of Central Finance and Contracting Agency (CFCA) Vice President of Northern Investment Bank and Virginija Gecaite Head of the Baltic Office of the European Investment Bank will open the newly built Ķekava bypass on Friday Photo from the opening of the Kekava bypass to traffic Photographer: © Renārs Koris and ©Edmunds Brencis The new route of the Bauska highway and the former highway The new Kekava bypass will form part of the Bauska highway or the state main road Rīga-Bauska-Lithuanian border (Grenctāle) (A7) in the section from km 7.78 to km 25.0 road users traveling from Lithuania to Riga via Bauska or vice versa will now have the opportunity to avoid traffic jams in Pierīga It will also significantly improve traffic safety on the Bauska highway in Pierīga which is expected to have the highest traffic intensity has been built in accordance with all traffic safety requirements for a high-speed road The construction of this bypass will relieve not only Kekava thus improving both traffic safety and the comfort of living and driving The section of the old Bauska highway from Krogsils to Saulgoži in the future will become the state regional road Lapenieki–Ķekava–Ķūgi (P137) Considering that this regional road will still have significant traffic it will be assigned the road routine maintenance class A Part of the newly built Kekava bypass is the first road in Latvia to be marked with road sign no It has to be noted that it is forbidden for vehicles to stop and stand on the bypass and this is indicated by horizontal markings – the continuous white line Maximum driving speed on the high-speed section of the bypass during summer road maintenance period will be up to 120 km/h during winter maintenance period from October 16 (or in snowy weather conditions) to April 15 it will be 90 km/h Infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians According to Road Traffic Regulations and road safety requirements cyclists and pedestrians are prohibited from moving along the section of the road marked with road sign no In order to provide micro-mobility opportunities for the residents of Pierīga pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure is provided along the parallel roads in the sections where the Ķekava bypass crosses urban areas A pedestrian and cycling bridge for crossing the new bypass has been built near Katlakalns The ramp of the pedestrian bridge is designed as a broken line so that it is more convenient and safer for persons in wheelchairs cyclists and others to access the bridge with an opportunity to stop and not to slide back along the way cyclists and pedestrians may use the route along the streets of Riga further along the infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians in Valdlauči and along the newly built micro-mobility infrastructure Residents of Pierīga also have the opportunity to reach the department store “A7” on foot or by bicycle Infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists from the department store “A7” to the border of Rīga will be built after 2025 40 km of steel and 4 km of concrete safety barriers have been installed in the route of Ķekava bypass Noise mitigation solutions such as noise barriers and soil embankments have been implemented along 7.5 km of the road 27 km of animal fencing have also been installed.  The route of Kekava bypass will be monitored 24 hours per day thanks to more than 20 video surveillance cameras as well as data system analysing the traffic flow Innovative materials and technologies have been used in the construction of the bypass water pipes and lighting poles made of glass fibre have been used recycled PET bottles have been used in the production of bridge barriers and sound absorbers made of wood fibre are used in noise barriers 21 oaks and more than 1000 different varieties of shrubs have been planted for the greening of Ķekava bypass Kekava bypass is the first major PPP project in road construction in the Baltics to be implemented according to Design-Build-Finance-Operate model This is also the first project in the Baltics for which EUROSTAT has issued the statement that all project assets are registered in the balance sheet of the private partner without creating negative influence on the state consolidated budget and state debt Project feasibility study was commenced already back in 2006 In 2009 the Law on Public-Private Partnership was adopted in Latvia while in 2014 the land acquisition for the construction of the bypass was commenced The Cabinet of Ministers issued its Order no 172 “On the commencement of Public-Private Partnership procurement procedure for the state main road project “E67 / A7 Kekava Bypass” on March 10 The procurement for Public-Private Partnership was commenced in December 2018 and the procedure included qualification and selection stages Five tenders were received in the qualification stage out of which four met the defined requirements All four tenderers were invited to participate in the selection state to submit their initial technical and financial tender The initial tender was submitted by two tenderers who were also invited to participate in negotiations with the contracting authority in order to improve their tenders while maintaining their compliance with the requirements of tender dossier After negotiations the tenderers prepared their best and final offers The most important criterion in the evaluation of submitted bids was the price while the remaining 20% covered the compliance with various additional criteria Out of two tenderers who submitted their best and final offers the offer of Kekava ABT was selected as economically most advantageous offer This Association of Persons with the share of 80% of total investment is controlled by an investment fund TIIC 2 (SCA) SICAR which specializes in large-scale transport and public investment projects in Europe and around the world Few examples of implemented projects are: motorway between the cities of Gerediaga and Elorrio in northern Spain (implemented according to the same principles as Kekava Bypass) section  Ecalles-Alix of the road A150 in northern France the Cabinet of Ministers made decision to undertake long-term commitments for the implementation of the project a repeated statement from EUROSTAT statement was received certifying that this PPP contract corresponded to the off-balance sheet accounting from the point of view of the total liabilities of the Republic of Latvia and is in line with the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) The PPP contract for the construction of the bypass was signed on July 16 Acting State Secretary of the Ministry of Transport and Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Transport Member of the Board of State Limited Liability Company “Latvian State Roads” Members of the Board of the Association of Persons Ķekava ABT The signing ceremony was attended also by Hugo Espinheira Silveira Chairman of the Board of Association of Persons Kekava ABT and TIIC partner President and CEO of Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) and Marina Ismaila representative of the European Investment Bank The public partner in this project is the state of Latvia in the person of the Ministry of Transport On behalf of the Ministry the project is implemented by State Limited Liability Company “Latvian State Roads” The construction cost of one lane kilometre of Ķekava bypass the construction costs of 1 lane kilometre of Saulkrasti bypass (A1) including engineering structures in 2007 were ~1.25 million EUR In accordance with tender results of procurement procedure of Ķekava Bypass PPP project the total contract value amounted up to EUR 265 729 046.65 excluding VAT at the moment of signing the PPP contract the total amount was recalculated in accordance with the procedure foreseen in tender dossier including the Euribor and interest rate swap at the time of signing the PPP contract the gross contract value decreased by 15 Million EUR  and was determined in the amount of 250 132 500 EUR excluding VAT This amount will be divided into quarterly payments and paid to the private partner in the period of 20 years after the Ķekava Bypass becomes available The annual amount paid by the state to the private partner will be 12.53 Million EUR excluding VAT During the design and construction stage the state paid nothing All investments were made by the private partner its quality was recognized as compliant with regulatory requirements and the infrastructure was made available to the public the state had the duty to start paying accessibility fees to the private partner gradually reimbursing the private partner in full in the period of 20 years The availability fee covers the costs of the private partner for design routine maintenance and periodic maintenance in the period of 20 years after the completion of the construction works The total amount of the availability fee specified in the PPP contract is the maximum possible amount that the private partner will be able to receive during the period of the PPP contract The accessibility fee may be reduced if the Ķekava bypass or any its section is not accessible or is partially accessible to traffic for every hour and for each kilometre of the lane not fully accessible except when driving conditions are affected by third parties (e.g Land acquisition has to be included in project costs the Ministry of Transport on behalf of the state purchased 218 land plots with the total area of 132 ha •         Forest lands:                      56 plots (26%); •         Agricultural lands:              56 plots (26%); •         Building lands:                  48 plots (22%); •         Production territories:        19 plots (9 %); •         Land under roads:             39 plots (18%) Total actual costs of land acquisition amount up to 4.6 Million EUR The total period of the partnership contract is up to 23 years the construction period is no more than three years for design and construction The availability period during which the private partner fully ensures the daily maintenance of the constructed road and the renewal of the road surface is not more than 20 years In the case of Ķekava bypass the private partner will be fully responsible for all maintenance works for the entire duration of the PPP contract including cleaning and spreading of roadways electricity for lighting and other traffic management equipment The private partner will guarantee that for another 5 years after the expiry of the PPP contract Ķekava bypass will remain in such quality that it will require only daily maintenance works Additional information about private partner: https://www.tiic.pt/Overview/About-us Information prepared by Communications Department of State Limited Liability Company “Latvian State Roads” On the image above: ceremonially cutting the ribbon From left: Deputy Director of the Central Finance and Contracts Agency (CFLA) Mārtiņš Brencis SLLC Latvian State Roads board member Verners Akimovs Vice President of Northern Investment Bank Jeanette Vitasp SLLC Latvian State Roads chairman of the board Mārtiņš Lazdovskis head of the Baltic office of the European Investment Bank Virginija Gecaite director general of Kekava ABT Juris Fridmanis lvceli@lvceli.lv _default@40003344207 komunikacija@lvceli.lv anna.kononova@lvceli.lv the page you are looking for is currently unavailable.Please try again later If you see this error constantly and you are the system administrator of this resource then please make sure that you are not blocking our IP address: 51.210.136.122 More Take note – story published 1 year and 6 months ago The 250-million-euro bypass is the first road in Latvia designated as a "High speed road" – which means that pedestrians and cyclists will not be allowed to travel on it. Construction started in 2021 and was funded via a public-private partnership (PPP) model.  The new Ķekava bypass is part of the Bauska highway (A7) which is one of the busiest roads in Latvia with an average traffic volume of 17,000 cars per day and on some sections of the road as many as 25,278 vehicles In total, the bypass is almost 18 kilometers long, of which a little more than 11 kilometers is a two-lane road with four lanes. Motorists traveling from Lithuania to Riga via Bauska or vice versa will now have the opportunity to avoid traffic jams in Pieriga, predicts Latvijas Valsts Ceļi (Latvian State Roads cars and buses are allowed to drive on this road while the infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians is provided along quieter parallel roads The maximum driving speed on the high-speed section of the ring road during the summer will be up to 120 km/h and during the winter period from October 16 to April 15 Local residents of Ķekava told Latvian Radio that they are happy with the project and expect to see fewer traffic jams However, a truck driver told Latvijas Radio that rather than eliminating jams the Ķekava bypass will simply move them closer towards Riga Select text and press Ctrl+Enter to send a suggested correction to the editor Select text and press Report a mistake to send a suggested correction to the editor We use cookies to improve your experience on our site. Learn more. Photo: KekavaLatvian poultry processor Putnu Fabrika Kekava unveiled plans to invest between €12 and €14 million in the construction of a biomethane gas plant to lower operational costs and make the business profitable again In the 2021/2022 financial year, Kekava generated a net loss of €2.5 million stemming from skyrocketing operational costs Pranckevičs said that the Baltic poultry industry has been in crisis ever since the beginning of Covid-19 that the pandemic triggered a sales crisis as closed hotels and restaurants drove down poultry consumption experienced a cost crisis that was much worse Kekava suffered 2-3 times bigger losses due to a surge in operational costs last year than during the initial period of the Covid-19 pandemic The biomethane gas plant is intended to complement the efforts aimed at reducing the company’s reliance on natural gas Kekava has already selected its location and has reached an agreement with the local authorities to begin construction Pranckevičs said he hoped that the results of the 2022/2023 financial year to be better compared with the previous year He stated that the efforts aimed at mitigating costs have already started to pay off and the company expects this fact to be reflected in the full-year financial performance there are signs that the sales crisis will return on the back of rising inflation Baltic countries struggle with nearly 20% inflation which is noticeably higher than in other parts of Europe “People have less money to cover their expenditures we have seen and heard from our partner supermarkets all over Europe that people are starting to gradually cut their budgets on food and switch from more expensive products no tangible drop in poultry consumption has been seen but the company expects that this might happen Pranckevičs added that citizens increasingly buy promotional items and wait for discounts poultry used to be the cheapest source of animal protein problems with European pork exports have lowered pork prices which means pork is increasingly competing with poultry in terms of price Take note – story published 2 years and 1 month ago Continuing the construction work of the Ķekava bypass traffic will be permanently closed on the local road Ķekava–Plakanciems (V6) which passes through the route of the future Ķekava bypass The local road Baloži–Plakanciems–Iecava (V7) and Rīga bypass (Salaspils-Babīte) (A5) should be selected for the route to Ķekava instead The road signs of the dead end ahead are located 0.8 km and 2.4 km before the closed section The closed road section is indicated with a red line on the map below Latvian Minister of Transport Jānis Vitenbergs and Minister of Finance Arvils Ašeradens intend to look for opportunities to use Public and Private Partnership (PPP) to implement large road infrastructure projects as confirmed by Vitenbergs’ advisor for communication affairs Aļona Zandere This is why both members of the government decided to visit the construction site of Ķekava bypass on Wednesday The two will meet to «discuss PPP model and other future infrastructure projects» Ķekava bypass is the first PPP infrastructure project in Latvia It is important to ensure connectivity between Baltic capital cities It will also help reduce traffic on local roads and improve residents’ safety It is planned to open the bypass for road traffic in autumn this year Successful implementation of this project will mean the PPP model is a good example for future projects «The next project in line for PPP is Bauska bypass This project has been discussed for decades Now we can consider Bauska bypass for this model People have been waiting for it for a very long time,» Vitenbergs stressed in the press-release Ašeradens agrees with this: «Construction of Ķekava bypass using PPP model is a good example to use a transparent process good management and high quality standards in order to provide residents with necessary infrastructure Latvia has many needs that can be resolved using this model This model can be used for construction of social infrastructure Wider use of PPP would promote investments and economic transformation which is the priority of this government.» The project of Ķekava bypass is carried out by private partner Kekava ABT JSC and subcontractors Construction monitoring is done by Firma L4 LLC Road maintenance will be performed by the private partner for 20 years after the end of construction The project is financed by the Nordic Investment Bank and European Investment Bank The costs estimated in August 2021 were at EUR 250 132 500 without VAT Latvian state company Latvian State Roads reports that the section of Bauska motorway (A7) connecting Riga and Ķekava is one of the busiest roads in Latvia Road intensity there reaches nearly 17 000 cars a day On certain sections of the road this number reaches 25 278 this road passes through a densely populated village in Ķekava The volume of freight traffic on this section is three times above the limit Also read: BNN INTERVIEW | Jānis Vitenbergs: a minister cannot work separately from the industry Photo: Lex SalverdaLatvias largest poultry processor is ready to reduce the density of farmed birds per square meter and extend the grow-out period as per new welfare standards currently discussed by politicians even though these measures would increase production costs and prices Chairman of the Board of Putnu fabrika Kekava told local press Ķekava currently keeps birds for 40 days while some countries have already extended the duration of the production cycle to 60-70 days for the sake of matching better welfare standards this measure is expected to tremendously raise production costs and we have even calculated when and how we can start working on them The population and supermarkets must be prepared that the prices of meat will go up,” he added Kekava rolls out major green initiative Putnu Fabrika Kekava, the biggest Latvian poultry processor, plans to heavily invest in environmentally friendly technologies and build its own solar plant to cut carbon emissions. Read more… Pranckevic estimated that in the worst-case scenario the price of poultry products on grocery shelves would double so politicians need to think twice and take all consequences into account Both bird welfare and sustainability have to be considered when making such decisions I do not think it is sustainable given the population’s purchasing power That’s why I believe this should be introduced gradually,” said Pranckevic Take note – story published 3 years and 9 months ago AS “Ķekava ABT” is a newly incorporated company set up to design finance and operate the Ķekava Bypass road project under a PPP agreement with the Latvian Ministry of Transport The project comprises the construction and maintenance of a 17.5 kilometer stretch of road bypassing the town of Ķekava near Rīga which is located on a busy road south to the Lithuanian border 14.4 kilometers will be newly built and 3.1 kilometers will be renovated existing road The Ķekava Bypass will become a part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) and Via Baltica (E67) – a 1,722 km road joining six countries from Prague to Helsinki is a vital international corridor and a strategically important road especially for our Baltic member countries The Kekava Bypass project is the first major PPP project in Latvia the project can give an incentive for other larger infrastructure projects in the region," said André Küüsvek The new bypass will be a modern four-lane bypass with parallel roads The construction of the Kekava bypass will improve the traffic flow in and out of Rīga towards Lithuania and the rest of Europe NIB is co-financing the project together with the European Investment Bank (EIB) The public partner in this project is the State Ministry of Transport on whose behalf the project has been negotiated and will be implemented by Latvijas Valsts Celi (LVC The consortium consists of the Luxembourg-registered infrastructure fund TIIC 2 S.C.A SICAR as well as Latvian construction firms AS A.C.B The consortium was chosen by the Ministry of Transport as the preferred bidder after the conclusion of a tendering process for the project The partnership contract validity period is 23 years The NIB is an international financial institution owned by eight member countries: Denmark The Bank finances private and public projects in and outside the member countries The ministry wants the Ķekava municipal council to immediately cancel a decision over changing the makeup of the committees in the council that it had taken without the councilors' consent and without informing them Under the current rules a committee member can only be replaced on the grounds of a formal request about leaving the committee "If the Ķekava municipal councilors are unable to abide to rules and regulations for gross violations of democratic principles," the ministry's Parliamentary Secretary Jānis Eglītis said.  the company suffered a net loss of €2.2 million Photo: Putnu Fabrika KekavaLinas Agro Group will suffer a €9 million net loss in 2022 due to an “extremely and unprecedented” rise in electricity costs this year Linas Agro Group is the parent company of Putnu Fabrika Kekava, the largest Latvian poultry processor. In the last fiscal year, the company suffered a net loss of €2.2 million. “There has never been such a large shift in production costs before. Natural gas and electricity [prices] have reached historical record levels. For our company, the gas price has soared by more than 600%, while the price of electricity 200% compared with the same period of the previous year,” Pratskyuvichyus said. The present situation is making it difficult for the entire poultry industry in the country to maintain operation, he admitted. “We see no room for cutting electricity and natural gas consumption within our company,” Pratskyuvichyus said, adding that a drop in output in any production segment imperils the entire production chain. “Lowering electricity and natural gas consumption is closely linked to biosecurity risks, as it endangers the health of birds and affects the overall business process,” Pranckevičius said. On the other hand, breeding poultry requires compliance with a certain temperature regime at each production stage: from 34°C at the beginning to 19°C degrees at the end of the growth cycle. The temperature regime is constant throughout the year, and any violations of the standards hurt the production process, Pratskyuvichyus explained. Linas Agro Group is working on establishing a solar battery park to mitigate the rising costs. The project is called to help the company partly switch to autonomous power generation sources. In addition, the company hopes to finish building an LPG backup storage facility to secure the heating of the poultry houses by the end of the current season. This infrastructure will come in handy if natural gas is entirely unavailable in Latvia. Pranckevičius added that the rapid rise in energy and feedstuff prices will affect poultry farmers across Europe, with the greatest impact expected in the winter of 2022/2023. The increase in retail prices is likely to hamper consumption. For this reason, Kekava puts a lot of effort into constraining the rise in prices. “No one can predict the development of events, so the market remains in a state of uncertainty, facing huge risks,” Pranckevičius said. Sie haben erfolgreich Ihre Einwilligung in die Nutzung von Transfermarkt mit Tracking und Cookies widerrufen. Sie können sich jetzt zwischen dem Contentpass-Abo und der Nutzung mit personalisierter Werbung, Cookies und Tracking entscheiden. Photo: Jan Willem SchoutenDemand for poultry meat is already recovering in Latvia “Forecasts made on the impact of Covid-19 on the Latvian poultry market were worse than the actual numbers now show,” Andrius Pranckevicius chairman of Latvia’s biggest poultry producer Putnu Fabrika Kekava “Although the Covid-19 aftermath is likely to be felt for at least 6 more months,” Pranckevicius added When the European quarantine to slow down the spread of the novel coronavirus was introduced Kekava started looking for additional storage space That preparation for the worst eventually seemed to be excessive The company managed to sell all products produced during the 10-week quarantine in Europe consumers were the main driver of demand as they were seen rushing to supermarkets in order to create food reserves all Baltic countries saw a reverse of this trend – as the demand for chilled poultry is lower than usual because citizens now want to get rid of those reserves Kekava is optimistic about the recovery of the HoReCa market sales have already grown and reached 30% from the pre-crisis level There are also signals that sales are about to recover beyond the Baltic countries The demand from the HoReCa will likely recover with no delays Interview with IPC president: Looking beyond Covid-19 New IPC president Robin Horel continues to monitor issues and share guidance with his members in the face of Covid-19 while at the same time keeping a long-term focus on sustainability The oversupply on the poultry market in Eastern Europe is a matter of a big concern for Kekava Polish poultry companies have stockpiles of broiler meat and are selling them at a price the market has never seen before Kekava has a competitive advantage since it sells high-quality antibiotic-free poultry has a strong meat-processing division and exports large quantities of products so that it can withstand the pressure Ovostar Union plans egg production in Latvia Gallusman part of Ukraine’s Ovostar Union Group has announced plans to invest € 100 million to build a huge egg production facility in Latvia The project is planned as a joint venture with Nordic energy company ADVEN with nearly 90% of eggs from the new facility destined for exports Kekava is now looking forward to state support measures These were already approved by the Latvian government in late May with the intention to help poultry companies compete with poultry farms in neighbouring countries adding that it was not as generous as in some neighbouring countries As an example Pranckevicius points towards Lithuania Lithuanian authorities approved a € 174 million bailout package for the country’s agricultural industry in a bid to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic with sales that dropped by at least 20% can apply for support poultry farmers could claim state aid even with a 10% reduction in sales,” Pranckevicius said Covid-19 Up-date What impact is the pandemic having on the global poultry sector and how are they dealing with it