On Tuesday 13 August, the Cabinet of Ministers took note of the information report ‘On the Progress of the Construction of Permanent Infrastructure along the External Land Border of the State’ by the Ministry of the Interior, which presents information on the progress with infrastructure construction required for the protection of the external land border of the State on 1 June 2024. The Cabinet of Ministers was also informed of the state-of-play regarding the construction of the infrastructure for the external land border.
In the light of the current situation on 12 August this year, the construction of the border fence on the Latvia-Belarus border has been fully completed (~ 145 km), while the construction of the necessary infrastructure - patrolling trails, footbridges and other border protection solutions - will continue until the end of 2024 for both the first and the second stage of the construction works for the full length of the 173-kilometre border. At present, 42.48 km of vehicle patrolling trails, 16.48 km of footbridge patrolling trails and 1.75 km of pontoon patrolling trails have been built.
In addition, the construction of six metal communication towers, access roads and a 16.7 km long patrolling route continues along the Daugava River on the Latvia-Belarus border. The construction of five communication towers and access roads has commenced and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. The towers and access roads will provide surveillance of the external land border along the Daugava River.
In the final stage of construction works on the Latvia-Belarus border, where the building of dredging roads is planned at Lake Riči, inspections were carried out and coordinates of potential dredging roads were identified to select the most optimal solution for construction. The dredging roads at Lake Riči will allow border guards to move quickly along the shore of the water basin, thus effectively responding to potential infringements - unauthorised entry of people or goods into Latvia. The sections without border fences - the 16.7 km stretch of the Daugava River and the construction of the dredging roads and infrastructure at Lake Riči - are planned to be completed by summer 2025.
According to the state of play in construction of the external land border infrastructure on the Latvia-Russia border, active construction works are also currently underway on a border security fence with a total length of 180 km.
The soldiers and servicemen of the National Armed Forces have been assisting with the border fence construction since April 2024, and SJSC Valsts nekustamie īpašumi, which organises the procurement of all materials and resources and manages the construction works, is acting as the general contractor for these sections. The construction of the fence on the Latvia-Russia border along the entire planned length is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024 (with the exception of sections of about 29 km, which will be completed next year).
As announced, SJSC Latvijas Valsts radio un televīzijas centrs has been entrusted with organising the smart infrastructure development at the external land border. The preparatory works have been carried out, and in the near future, design works for smart infrastructure development on both the Latvia-Belarus and Latvia-Russia external land borders will be launched in several stages, while the construction works are scheduled to start later. Smart infrastructure is an innovative and structurally complex solution consisting of an electronic communications network (external electronic communications utilities, electronic communications poles, towers or masts), external electricity utilities, presence detection systems and surveillance equipment and related infrastructure that will significantly improve the response and prevention capabilities of the authorities involved in border surveillance.