The European Infrastructure Bank (EIB) and the Nordic Investment Bank have agreed to provide €61.1 million in financing to the development of the Kekava bypass PPP in Latvia.

The €90 million project is the first major project in Latvia to be procured using a PPP model.

The developer is the Kekava ABT AS consortium, which is made up of:

• TIIC
• SICAR
• ACB – Latvian construction company
• Binders – Latvian road construction company 

The project consists of the construction of a 14.4km high-speed section and the reconstruction of 3.1km of the existing road, 11km of which will be a 4-lane carriageway and 6.4km is planned as a 2-lane carriageway. The project also comprises:

• 4 multiple junctions
• 4 tunnels
• 1 bridge
• 7 roundabouts
• parallel roads totaling 16.2km

The project is expected to improve connectivity between the Latvian capital city Riga and the Lithuanian border.

The existing E67/A4 in its Riga–Kekava section has one of the highest volume/capacity ratios in Latvia and traffic volumes have grown over the last 15 years, exceeding 17,000 vehicles per day.  The E67/A4 section is the only 2-lane carriageway exit out of Riga and is part of the TEN-T network which connects Lithuania to Europe.

The Kekava bypass project was procured by Latvian state roads authority Latvijas Valsts.

Construction is already underway with operations slated for 2023. The sponsors also hold a 20-year concession ending in 2043.

Advisers to procuring authority are:

• Deloitte – financial
• Deloitte – legal