TALLINN - Estonia's road administrators said they would focus on rural roads this year, while Latvia's said they intended to double the amount of funds allocated to the country's highways and byways.
The Estonian Road Administration said it had allocated more funds for repairing and resurfacing secondary and gravel roads. Total funds earmarked for roads this year amount to 2.18 billion kroons (139 million euros) 's including 1.12 billion from the state budget and 500 million kroons from the European Union, an administration official said.
State-managed basic and secondary roads will receive 806 million kroons in 2005, main roads 677 million kroons, while 40 million kroons will go to new bridges. The budget for repairs on local roads totals 117 million kroons.
In comparison with last year, operating costs have increased by 46 million kroons, and investments from state budget by 247 million kroons.
Still, this is a far cry from what the state needs. It is estimated that some 980 kilometers of gravel roads should be repaired annually, compared with 377 kilometers that saw repairs last year and 635 kilometers that Estonia expects to repair in 2005.
Officials said that while the average age of road cover on the country's main roads is declining, the average age of road cover of basic and secondary roads is 24 years.
Latvia's state-run Latvijas Valsts Celi (Latvian National Roads) said it was planning to repair 201 kilometers of roads this year at a cost 98.5 million lats (140 million euros).
Company director Andris Lapsins said that funds allocated this year have doubled from last year's 42 million lats; however, in 2004 the money was enough to repair 258 kilometers of road. Although funding has increased, he said, the volume of road reconstruction is declining, as road conditions deteriorate with each year and costs rise.
The roads to be repaired this year form only a small part of the overall length of Latvia's roads, which amount to 20,200 kilometers.
