123 properties will undergo land acquisition by the time Rail Baltica starts construction work
The land acquisition process for Rail Baltica construction in Latvia has been ongoing for a couple of years and the national implementing body of Rail Baltica in Latvia - Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas has prepared 123 private and government properties for land acquisition: 86 of these are located in the section between the Rail Baltica station and its infrastructure in the Riga International Airport (21,84 ha). Land surveying has also been completed in this section. In the Riga Central Station section of the project - 37 properties (1,3 ha).
Kristine Krūmiņa, Director of the Legal Department, Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas: “The number of affected properties is smaller in the Riga Central Station section of the project because Rail Baltica line is planned to be placed in the already existing railway compartment lane, but it is very complicated: land acquisition is difficult due to the location of the properties being in the historic center of the city, which makes it particularly challenging to survey the land. At the same time, the impact on properties in the Riga Airport section of the project is much greater in the total number of properties affected as well as the area covered, considering that the railway and the entire infrastructure (railway line, embankments, overpasses etc.) are being built from scratch. Both sections are also being commercialized. In such objects the determination of fair compensation ir tiered, as it affects property and commercial activities. For example, the evaluation of property owned by Riga international bus station, multi-storey parking lot Titaniks, the Latvian air trafficking as well as the Riga International Airport requires the involvement of experts to make an estimate of the losses claimed.”
Preparation work for real estate land acquisition processes in Latvia was started in 2017. Land acquisition is happening simultaneously with the Rail Baltica line and station construction. This principle - developing design at the same time as land acquisition - allows you to get the exact amount of land acquisition cases needed. Considering that the land acquisition process for the Rail Baltica project is difficult, Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas also initiated and participated in the elaboration of a number of regulatory changes (e.g. the Construction Act, the Railway Act and the Land Development Project Design Rules).
In 2018, Rail Baltica station and its associated infrastructure at Riga International Airport was the first to be designed in Latvia. Along with the design, the land acquisition process started in the section from Zolitude Street in Riga to Dzirnieku Street in Marupe. This was followed by design work on the Riga Central Station project, and work is underway on the affected properties from Lacplesa Street to Jelgavas Street. Both of the mentioned sections of Rail Baltica stations are undergoing an active land acquisition process, as those are the sections where the first track construction in Latvia is scheduled to begin in 2021.
In 2019 RB Rail AS signed contracts for the design of the main track. Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas has begun the necessary preparations for land acquisition in the following stages: identification of the affected real estate, ownership, status.
In total, 1623 properties that will be affected by the line (of which 1179 are private and legal entities, 444 state or municipal properties) have been identified during the Rail Baltica route planning process. The funding available for disposal in the current financial programming period is EUR 15.6 million. Funding will mainly be used for the divestment of Rail Baltica Riga International Airport and Central Station, as well as for preparatory work for subsequent divestments.
The owner of the real estate participates in the land acquisition of each property. Already in 2017 Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas set up a Land Acquisition Advisory Center for the affected properties on the Rail Baltica route to provide the necessary clarification to the owners of the affected properties.