The coalition failed to agree on the payment of the outstanding bills on Monday. The reason is that the government thinks the bills are too high, and it wants to reduce the amount. The construction companies and their workers are outraged by this response and point out that contracts were signed in good faith and all parties went into them with their eyes open.
The future Rail Baltica Central Station was seemingly bustling with activity on Tuesday morning. Although the state owes millions of euros to the builders for work already done, one of the construction workers interviewed told Latvian Radio that he was being paid, otherwise, he would not be working at the site.
Guntis Āboltiņš-Āboliņš, CEO of the BERERIX company association, pointed out that the companies involved in the project pay the workers' salaries from their own wallets:
"If we don't get the rest of the money in the account today, then the arrears tomorrow will be about 5.5 million [euros]. Then there are about 9 million more on the way. The invoices have been approved and submitted for payment. Some money is coming our way, but this amount of arrears is getting bigger and bigger."
So far, the State has paid around €11 million for the work done, but by the end of the year, the State will have to pay another €43 million.
"It should not be the case that we do not receive [the money], because the contract is legitimate, the invoices are correct, they have been checked. We have had numerous audits," said Āboltiņš-Āboliņš.
"Even if there were doubts about some details in the calculations, it is neither legally nor morally acceptable to simply not pay approved invoices for work done. This is especially true, in my opinion, for the state, for the public contracting authority, which should, as it were, set an example in payment discipline. It is also painful that this money is not going back into the Latvian economy."
The entrepreneur said that such a non-payment strategy would be very costly for the state, taking into account possible litigation, interest penalties, compensation, and also the extra costs that may arise due to the inaction of officials.
Transport Minister Kaspars Briškens (Progressives) said on Monday, after a coalition cooperation meeting, that it is necessary to find a way to fulfill the commitments while at the same time assessing them. EUR 39 million in European Union funding is not available. However, the Ministry of Transport has managed to find a small part of this funding, around €6 million, Latvian Television reported.
It is not yet known when the government will consider the issue. The Transport Minister's office hopes that it will be next week.
