"If a few weeks ago the situation was really critical - over a hundred subcontractors were actually waiting to be paid - today the situation is 98% resolved. We are still - the industry, the subcontractors, the partners - financing the project. (...) I think we would be prepared to wait a couple of weeks, then of course some of the money would have to come our way again. Otherwise, I don't know, we will see. I cannot rule out that we will have to slow down the work very significantly," said Guntis Āboltiņš- Āboliņš, Executive Director of BERERIX.
In total, EDzL owes €39 million to the builders for the work carried out and the increase in construction costs.
The company does not know when it will repay the entire debt, but it will not start insolvency proceedings, said Eriks Diļevs, the company's CEO.
"At the moment we are looking at how we can use other sources of finance as a matter of urgency, in parallel with the information report on the two stations, which is being forwarded to the Cabinet of Ministers. Maybe there is some reserve available [..] so as not to affect the process of construction works and not to have legal consequences," Diļevs said.
The Ministry of Transport said that for the project, money is only available for the base costs, but there is no money in the budget to cover the increase in construction costs, so they have approached the government.
Ligita Austrupe, Acting State Secretary at the Ministry of Transport, reassured that they do not accept the possibility of stopping construction work.
"At the moment, all the first steps have already been taken. This money has to be found in the state budget. The problem was perhaps that, knowing that there was no funding, we continued to order the works in the volumes we originally planned, without taking into account that we might run a deficit," said the Transport Ministry spokeswoman.
Austrupe hopes to find the missing money in the budget this month, but negotiations could drag on.
