Posted: 22.10.2021 15:56:00

Sanctions boomerang

Lithuania suspends modernisation of the railway section because of EU and US restrictions against Belarus

The Board of LTG Infra that manages the infrastructure of the state-owned enterprise Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai has decided to temporarily suspend the construction of the second railway line in the Plungė–Šateikiai section due to sanctions on Belarus.
“The geopolitical situation regarding sanctions imposed on Belarus by the European Union and the United States forces us to reconsider the return on investment of some projects,” the company said in a press release.
“We anticipate that sanctions could have a negative impact on the full utilisation of public railway infrastructure capacity due to lower freight and passenger flows, as well as on the company’s revenue. Having evaluated these risks, we temporarily suspend implementation of the project worth 60m Euros,” it added.
The tender provided for the renewal of the railway track on the 13.9km section, communication systems, the reconstruction of bridges and other engineering structures, the expansion of shunting tracks at Plungė and Šateikiai stations. The railway section is located in the west of Lithuania. The end point of the highway is Klaipeda, through the seaport of which the Baltic state actively carried out export transit of Belarusian goods.
Lithuania is threatened with the loss of this transit, the lion’s share of which accounted for Belarusian potash fertilisers and oil products.

Based on materials of www.lrt.lt
Open source photo