The Utena municipality, which has been pushing for the reconstruction of the Vilnius-Utena main road lined with concrete slabs in poor condition, may have to endure a few more years - plans to reconstruct the road with private funds are rejected by the Directorate of Motor Vehicles of Lithuania, and other sources of funding are still unclear, writes "Lietuvos rytas".
Road users decided that the two-lane road provided in the feasibility study would not be safe, so it was decided to install three traffic lanes on this road, but it turned out that the reconstruction of the widened road would cost from 191 to 288,4 million. euros - much more than allowed by the Seimas. The Ministry of Transport decided to repair the road in stages and finance it from the Road Fund and state loans. It is estimated that such repair of the 72-kilometer long road would take several years and cost up to 80-90 million. euros.
Laima Kalinauskienė, head of the State Asset Management Policy Department of the Ministry of Finance, told the daily that it is impossible to suddenly change the position and abandon the public-private partnership project: "The financing of the project is being prepared to change fundamentally, although it is not yet clear for what money it will be implemented."
