New tenders are to be issued within the next few months. Until then, the company is to review the contracts so that more companies can compete to supply Rīga with new trams.
Rīgas Satiksme said that they are cooperating with Delna, the Latvian office of Transparency International, as part of an agreement for supervising the deal.
As reported, the planned construction of a new tram line to serve the Skanste region of Rīga has been put on hold for at least a year after a huge corruption scandal saw raids on the Rīgas satiksme offices by the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau and the arrest of several senior employees, as previously reported by LSM.
The Skanste tram project has been highly controversial from its first suggestion. Intended to provide an economic boost to an under-developed district close to the city center, some opponents have questioned its merits, others have objected to the route chosen and others have voiced doubts about potential corruption in the nearly 100-million euro project which involves a new 3.65 km-long line, reconstruction of three kilometers of existing line plus the purchase of twelve low-floor trams.
