In Rīga, the old cobblestones dismantled in construction projects and not returned to the streets are put into storage. They are weighed before storage, and in the same way, when the historic road surface needs to be laid again, it is weighed and taken out of storage.
Currently, approximately 6,300 tonnes of different granite products are stored, and there are two storage facilities in Rīga – at Vienības Avenue 20 and Skanstes Street 16. When LTV made a request to see the historical pavement reserves, it was refused, and the same reply was received this time.
"There is currently an active process to change these locations. So once this pavement has been moved and assembled for permanent use, you would be able to access and see it on the spot. At the moment we are moving it from one place to another, we will look at the capacity possibilities – whether it will be placed in one or two places for further storage," said Valters Krasts, Head of Maintenance of the Department of Outdoors and Mobility of the Riga City Council.
Pillar Contractor Ltd has been contracted to store the pavement until November 22 this year.
"The maintenance was organised through a tender, with a contract. The contractual obligations are, as everywhere, fixed-term and the storage sites may be changed when new contracts are launched," said Krasts.
But why doesn't the municipality store the stones on one of its own plots of land instead of paying other companies?
Signe Tupiņa-Jauniņa, deputy head of the Construction Works Management Division at Riga City Council's Traffic Infrastructure Department, explained in a written reply: "The Department for Outdoors and Mobility has so far decided to purchase the service. Just as maintenance, construction, design, tow truck services, construction supervision, installation of road signs and the like are procured. The Department organizes the performance of autonomous functions; this is a permissible practice. The municipality carries out the control and administrative work in this respect, which allows maximum concentration on the execution of the functions."
So the municipality pays rent to store the historic cobblestones. But now there are plans to take the paving from at least one of these sites onto municipal land. As a result, there has already been a lot of expenditure over the years and now, of course, there will also be charges for moving it. It is possible that this paving will be taken to Kleistu Street.
"It is possible that some of the pavement will be stored in Kleistu Street. It should be noted that this is an expensive material, security has to be ensured, so all these aspects are being assessed. However, the relocation is already included in the contracts at the expense of the storage company. This is not just about storage. It has to be accounted for, weighed, dispensed, received in accordance with the legislation," explained Krasts.
The cost of moving the cobblestones is too early to determine at this stage. It is also unclear where all the 6,300 tonnes of Riga cobblestones will be stored in the future, and, as LTV has once again failed to see it, whether it exists at all.
