During the meeting with the Minister of Transport and Communications, V. Matijošaitis admitted that the city lacks bridges: “Secret dream – Kėdainiai Bridge” | Deal

During the meeting, the mayor of Kaunas assured that when he came to power, he discovered an undeservedly abandoned city. Travelers were then promised that they would get a job from frost to frost.

V. Matijošaitis: “Fantasies are enough for us”

“Previously, we spent between 6 and 7 million on roads. EUR, now we are spending 26-27 million. I no longer recognize the city. It became a big construction site. What has changed? Employees received funding from the administration of roads and the city, but they also began to know the numbers, which cost how much. There are no more potholes, they are well marked, “said V. Matijošaitis.

This year, along with state appropriated funds, up to 40 million LTL has been allocated for the management of Kaunas roads. euros.

He was glad that no pedestrians were killed at crosswalks in Kaunas this year.

“It just came to our notice then. If you are stupid, hit it, but if we got it right, we have taken over the diamond marking of Japan and other countries, which warn that we are approaching the crossing. I do not say 100 percent. It helped. “Maybe lying policemen would help, but it won’t install them where public transport goes. Diamonds force drivers to stop,” the mayor of Kaunas told the Minister of Transport.

He assured that almost all the parks in the city are already ordered. Only one is missing: bridges. At first one would be enough, later perhaps two would be needed. It is also necessary to improve the entrances to Kaunas.

“Fantasies are enough for us that only God gives us health and money. The secret dream: the Kėdainiai bridge. Added to the project, as we say, a lot sex – benches around. The estimate was 80 million. euros. There is no need for beauty, there is no need for functionality. We would like to reduce the estimate to 50 million. – assured V. Matijošaitis, who mentioned to the minister that on the same day his son Šarūnas Matijošaitis opened the largest business center “Magnum” in Kaunas.

The Kėdainių Street Bridge, which has been debated for many years, was Construction is scheduled to begin in 2020.. The initial draft has been completed but has not yet been submitted for review. The project is currently being adjusted to lower the estimate.

The bridge connecting Fort IX and Via Baltica is planned to span 430 meters, which would be one of the longest bridges in Lithuania. It is expected to enter 62 million. an estimate of both bridge construction and embankments.

It is claimed that this bridge should help reduce traffic flows in the city center and facilitate communication between the two banks of the Nemunas near Marvel and Vilijampolė, Šilainiai districts. Currently, drivers are driving through the gymnasium and Šauklių streets in the old town, and citizens are loading the Via Baltica highway, which they use as an internal road. The construction of this bridge would reduce the load.

However, part of the architectural community and society criticizes the planned location and need for this bridge, because, according to them, it will create a picture of the confluence of the Nemunas and Neris rivers.

J.Narkevičius admitted that Kaunas is the fastest developing city in the area under his supervision: road infrastructure.

“The size of the municipal budget’s own funds is impressive. Almost 200 percent. what the state has allocated through various programs. Ours is about 12 million. It is about 30 million euros. assigned to. Last year, similar figures. Of the Lithuanian cities, perhaps only Šiauliai competes with the central street. Our priority is to pay attention to those municipalities that are active, to support them even more. Appeared combat funds, of which 10 million were allocated to the Kaunas City Municipality. euros. Almost the same amount is allocated annually from the state budget for the maintenance of highways ”, acknowledged the Minister of Transport and Communications.

He assured that the meeting with the mayor of Kaunas was very useful: he had also heard about projects that he had not heard of before, he would look for opportunities to support at least partially their implementation.

Anxiety – to Kaunas

He spoke about coastal remediation and revitalization of shipping, saying that the state’s contribution alone would not be enough; Private funds should also be attracted.

“At the national level, we have started to develop the long-term revitalization of waterways, and Kaunas is the headquarters of the Inland Waterways Directorate, and there is also a high-speed boat” Raketa “. The municipality has contributed to this private initiative. We have deepened the riverbed from Kaunas to the Curonian lagoon, “said the Minister.

When asked if there would be a possibility in the future that Nerimi, the residents of Vilnius, would come to Kaunas, J.Narkevičius assured that this is not a distant future.

“First we manage the Nemunas, practical work is being done. For the Neris and other rivers, the concept has not yet been foreseen. But we know that the riverbed of the Neris river is different from the Nemunas, which is more rocky. There is a stone dam near Grigiškės. We are working in the direction of connecting Neris with Nemunas not only in the natural sense, but also in the shipping sense. After all, there is industrial shipping: if we prepare plans now, we will soon be able to trade not only with Druskininkai, but also with the city of Grodno. We are talking about this with our Polish partners, a colleague from Belarus, “explained J.Narkevičius.

The city does not need a post office building.

The minister also wanted to discuss the vision of the Lithuanian post in Kaunas. The initiative group of architects “Paštininkai” meeting in Kaunas has presented the idea of ​​establishing an architecture museum in the Kaunas central post office building. J. Narkevičius admitted that this vision is under consideration. The privatization of the post office building came to a halt last fall, with an interdepartmental group running for half a year looking for ways to reorganize the building.

If the Vičiūnai employees had to be transferred now to the central post office building, they would not succeed. Now they are moving from the outskirts of the city to a new office building in the center of the city. We would have to spend a lot more money on repairs than the Magnum cost us.

It is currently considering what legal form to give the building manager, whether it is a public body or property that is managed in conjunction with the local government. According to the minister, this shows the role of the municipality. However, V. Matijošaitis assured that he does not see any self-government function in this building.

“I’ll make it clear: I don’t see any autonomous functions in that building. Why invent them if not? There really is no need for the city to incur additional costs. Mail needs to be repaired, tidy, and what’s inside is the same for me. We need that building to be beautiful and now it is undeservedly abandoned. If Vičiūnai employees had to be moved now to the central post office building, they would not get it. Now they are moving from the outskirts of the city to a new office building in the city center. We should spend much more money on repairs than the Magnum cost us, “said the mayor of Kaunas.

When asked by the journalist what he thought of such a position as mayor of Kaunas, J. Narkevičius replied: “I have heard that it is important for the mayor that the building retain its authenticity and that it is maintained. What shape is it? We are on the way to try to give the public, the artists, the opportunity to make their own suggestions on how to decorate the building. These social activities are certainly expensive, it is not a business project to earn money. We are ready to find the funds to make the building operational. “

J.Narkevičius also learned about all the projects that municipal employees are currently carrying out in Kaunas.

Subsequently, the Minister of Transport and Communications expected a meeting with the representatives of the company “Kelių tyrimai”, where he was interested in how the board of directors and the administration of the company maintain and manage the roads of state importance, or take sufficient care of road safety . The Minister also intended to discuss preparations for winter maintenance work on state roads.