Next year, preparations are being made to reconstruct one of the busiest Medininkai international border checkpoints on the border with Belarus, its throughput may drop by 50 percent.
This was confirmed to BNS by Mindaugas Zobiela, director of the Directorate of Border Control Points.
He said that the tender for the contractor has been announced, and the reconstruction is expected to start next year and be completed within three to four years.
At the time when the Medininkai checkpoint will be reconstructed, Belarus plans to renovate the Kamenij Loh checkpoint on its side as well.
"Permeability in Medininki will definitely drop during the reconstruction. (…) Bandwidth can drop by 50 percent," claimed M. Zobiela.
"This is the main road transport gateway of Lithuania and Belarus. (…) We will try to start and finish the works at the same time as possible", he added.
According to him, the directorate has secured funding for three years, so the prerequisites for starting and finishing the project are in place.
It is estimated that, according to preliminary data, the reconstruction may cost about 30 million. euros.
Hope to change everything
M. Zobiela claims that it is planned to build a completely new traffic lane for the work of border services, and the entire existing post will be left to customs. The point is expected to be made twice as permeable.
"During the reconstruction, it is expected to change basically everything," he emphasized.
Now Medininkų post serves up to 500 heavy vehicles per day. After reconstruction, this number is expected to increase to 1000.
The total bandwidth of the point should be from 3 thousand. vehicles per day rise to 6 thousand.
It is also planned to install automated traffic management, automatic number plate reading and other systems.
The director claimed that the Medininkai point is one of the busiest in Lithuania. It carries twice as many vehicles as any other in Vilnius district existing post.
Transport will be served at other posts
During the reconstruction, transport wishing to cross the Lithuanian-Belarusian border is promised to be served at other points.
From January 2, the Tverech post should become international for empty cargo vehicles.
"Empty vehicles (vehicles - BNS) will be able to go through the Tverečius point instead of going through Medininkis, standing in queues. We have already reached an agreement with the Belarusians," said M. Zobiela.
He added that additional infrastructure has been created at Lavoriškii and Šalčininkai border checkpoints, which also connect Lithuania with Belarus.
"We have already created additional infrastructure in Lavoriškės, when customs officers will perform part of the functions of border guards, and border guards will perform part of customs officers. In Šalčininkai, we have agreed to make a third instead of two freight transport lanes", said the head of the directorate.
Carriers rejoice
Mečislavas Atroškevičius, the general secretary of the Lithuanian national car transporters' association "Linava", told BNS that the association is happy with this reconstruction.
"This is not just a problem for carriers, it's a problem for the state," said M. Atroškevičius, speaking about the current capacity of the Medininkai point.
He said that the biggest problem is that the reconstruction will take quite a long time.
Mindaugas Paulauskas, Director of Transport Operations of the transportation company "Girteka Logistics", has a positive opinion about the reconstruction plans.
"We understand the need to upgrade the border crossing and expect it to significantly increase throughput in the future, which will improve the provision of logistics services to our customers," states the comment sent to BNS.
Author: Jonas Kisielius
