The 6 billion euro project to construct a high speed rail link through the Baltics and beyond will attract major international contractors to the region, and because of expected labor force shortages, bringing back migrated workers from other countries and material recycling should be explored to save natural resources, the speakers in the Opinion Festival’s Baltic construction panel said.
“Because of its immense size, Rail Baltica is on the radar of large international contractors, primarily from Europe and maybe even from China, because they are very active in the field of infrastructure projects. Also recent acquisitions of Estonian building sector companies may be preparations for the tender phase. The question is what the local, Baltic companies will get and what [will go to] others,” Eneli Liisma of construction company AS Merko Ehitus Eesti, said in the discussion panel organised by the construction materials company Sakret.
Rene Vinkler of Sakret said many new quarries will be opened to provide sand, limestone and other materials for Rail Baltica.
“I’m more concerned that with opening new quarries, we are laying a burden on our natural resources and therefore we should use more recycled materials, especially wood and concrete. Estonia doesn’t have much experience of it, but in Western Europe recycled materials are used and we should explored, to have consistent characteristics and quality," Vinkler said.
Also participating was Raimonds Jansons, Ambassador of Latvia to Estonia.
“It’s not only a high-speed railway, it’s a new economic corridor and will offer massive opportunities,” Jansons said, adding that a possible tunnel between Helsinki and Tallinn would be a natural prolongation of Rail Baltica.
