The "Urbany - Silene" and "Grigorovshchina - Paterniki" border crossing points will be modernized with EU funds

Belarus and Latvia are modernizing border crossing points at the "Urbany - Silene" and "Grigorovshchina - Paterniki" sections with the help of international technical assistance funds. This was announced today to journalists by the Deputy Chairman of the State Customs Committee of Belarus, Alexander Bogdevich.

A meeting of the subcommittee on the functioning and coordinated development of border crossing points on the Belarusian-Latvian state border was held in the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee. Among the key agenda items were projects of international technical assistance programs included in the Latvia-Lithuania-Belarus cross-border cooperation program of the European Neighborhood Instrument for 2014-2020. "We are talking about the modernization of the "Urbany - Silene" and "Grigorovshchina - Paterniki" border crossing points.

For "Urbany," this involves the construction of an inspection and X-ray scanning complex. We expect to receive a tranche of international technical assistance from the European Union funds in the amount of 3.5 million euros, which will be allocated to the Belarusian side for the construction of this facility. This will speed up customs control operations when goods are transported across the border," explained Alexander Bogdevich. The main grant recipient will be the Latvian side. In addition, each side is expected to provide at least 10% of national funding for the project's work. This includes not only the reconstruction of the border crossing points themselves but also the modernization of existing roads between them and the expansion of lanes. It is also planned to create separate lanes for pedestrian border crossings.

"We must go through all the stages of receiving international technical assistance. The first date is September 12. We need to submit a joint application for final project approval by the European Commission. By June of next year, we must complete the technical task and submit the construction documentation to undergo an expert review and confirm the amount of funds we are applying for. That is, the construction itself will begin in 2017-2018.

years,\" - explained Alexander Bogdevich. As commented by Ilmārs Šņucins, Deputy State Secretary for Tax, Customs and Accounting Issues of the Ministry of Finance of Latvia, this is a long-term project, so careful synchronization and coordination of all actions are needed. As for the "Grigorovshchina-Paternieki" section, a major reconstruction was carried out in the Verkhnedvinsk district back in 2014. Now the Belarusian side will be allocated a small grant (about 600 thousand euros) to integrate the road infrastructure with that which will be on the Latvian section. At the same time, the Latvians will receive a grant of 2.9 million euros, as they have a more extensive modernization of their "Paternieki" border crossing point and adjacent infrastructure ahead.

Ekaterina Knyazeva – BELTA.