Central Market board chairman Anatolijs Abramovs told Latvian Radio that the rebuilding of the imposing, but historic lot of structures on the edge of the Old Town’s canal and railroad and trolley tracks is important for Riga’s 21st century facelift.
“There needs to be a concept according to demands of life and the rhythm of our times,” headed.
He stressed also the need to clean up the unattractive filth of the canal-side and lay new ground for the market’s open territories.
The current procurement is quite modest, if not to say down-to-earth, considering the last time the Central Market reconstruction plan was on the City Council agenda in 2010, it hoped to attract €44m in EU co-funding for a market complex that turns over barely €7m a year, earning no small amount of public ridicule for its over-ambitious vision, however well-intended.
Directly across from the canal is Riga's decrepit, but also historic central bus station, which also awaits City Council's next move to determine its long-postponed future reconstruction (or removal to a new site). The wait could be as long as five years until a new solution is taken under consideration.
