Lithuania is planning to spend around 500 million euros on military mobility projects over five years.
According to Transport and Communications Minister Marius Skuodis, half of the money is expected to come from the European Commission and the other half from Lithuania’s national budget.
Skuodis and Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas met to discuss priority projects on May 31.
According to the ministers, the infrastructure of roads, bridges and railways must be ready for the arrival of NATO military equipment in Lithuania.
“We are talking about roads, railways, airports, and seaport so that the allies can move comfortably in all directions,” Skuodis said.
The investments will also benefit the general population, as “people will have better roads as well”, Anusauskas added.
The two ministries’ joint list of projects includes further stages of upgrading the Via Baltica motorway from Marijampole toward the Polish border, building a south-eastern bypass of the central town of Jonava, upgrading bridges on the Vilnius-Klaipeda motorway, upgrading signalling and related systems on the Rail Baltica railway section between Kaunas and Lithuania’s border with Poland, and extending the pavement of Kaunas Airport’s apron to accommodate military aircraft.
Other road, rail, airport and seaport infrastructure projects are also being planned. The projects are expected to be completed until 2027.
The EU’s Connecting Europe Facility earmarked a total of 1.69 billion euros to member countries between 2021 and 2027 to improve military mobility in Europe. (LRT/Business World Magazine)
