Estonia to invest EUR 83 mln in real estate in 2020

TALLINN – The Estonian government at a Cabinet sitting on Thursday approved national real estate investments for the next few years, with approximately 83 million euros to be invested in real estate construction next year.

"Investments for the next few years will be directed toward the construction of three larger individual objects, added to which will be investments in state buildings in county centers and several other buildings to be built or reconstructed by state real estate manager RKAS," Minister of Public Administration Jaak Aab said in a press release.

Considering the state's budgetary strategy for 2020-2023 and the buildings' planning and construction process, the investments will also carry on into the following years.

For example, the government decided to support the construction of the School of Fine Arts with altogether 43 million euros in 2020-2022, the construction of a new building for the Estonian public broadcaster ERR with 22 million euros in 2021-2023, and the plan also includes supporting the reconstruction of the buildings of the Estonian National Library and National Archives with 53 million euros in 2020-2027.

As one government priority, additional investments through RKAS will be made into the joint buildings of the Police and Border Guard Board and the commando buildings of the Rescue Board across Estonia in the amount of 44 million euros in 2020-2024, the final investment plan of which will be determined by way of cooperation between the Ministry of the Interior and RKAS.

"When investing in real estate, we will take into account that the buildings be energy efficient, with optimal spatial solutions and management costs," the minister added.

The government made some real estate related decisions for next year already in spring -- for example, the Kaariku sports complex was supported with an additional 2.6 million euros to make sure that the complex is completed. In addition, the construction of the joint building of the Police and Border Guard Board and Rescue Board in Parnu was supported with 25 million euros. This building is partially supported from the measure for increasing the energy efficiency of buildings.

The volume of national real estate investments has been in the same range in recent years, around 60-70 million euros.

In total, the state owns approximately two million square meters of buildings either directly or through RKAS.