Why Ķekava bypass? 

The Ķekava bypass is the new section of the Riga-Bauska-Lithuanian border (Grenctāle) highway (A7) from km 7.9 to km 25.0, which is part of the international motorway E67 Via Baltica (Helsinki-Tallina-Riga-Panevėžys-Caunia-Warsaw-Prague), and a part of the TEN-T network, providing the most direct and fastest connection of the capital Riga with neighbouring Lithuania and other European countries. The road E67 provides a traffic stream through Riga city to the bypass of Riga (A4 Baltezers-Saulkalne), the bypass of Riga (A5 Salaspils–Babīte), the road A6 Riga–Daugavpils–Kraslava – the border of Belarus (Patarnieki), the highway A8 Riga–Jelgava – the border of Lithuania (Meitene), as well as the highway A9 Riga (Skulte)–Liepaja.

Before the construction of the bypass, the highway (A7) section between Riga and Ķekava was one of the busiest roads in Latvia, with traffic volumes averaging around 17,000 vehicles per day, and as many as 25,278 units on some sections, passing through densely populated Ķekava. The volume of freight traffic on this section was three times higher than the limit. The Bauska highway (A7) was the only road with only one lane for entering and leaving Riga in each direction, creating a critical need to improve infrastructure and road safety.

Technical characteristics of the bypass

The Ķekava bypass is a section of the main national motorway Riga- Bauska-Lithuanian border (Grenctāle) (A7), km 7.9.-25.0. Dividing both the main route and parallel roads into lanes, the bypass totals almost 100 km, including:

• 4-lane road (two lanes in each direction of travel): 12.22 km;
• 2-lane road with one carriageway and 1 lane in each direction of travel: 5.36 km;
• parallel roads and overpasses: 20.7 km
• tunnels: 2;
• bridges and overpasses: 6;
• roundabouts: 9
• pedestrian bridges and tunnels: 2.

Prerequisites for choosing a PPP model

A Private Public Partnership (PPP) project has been selected as the most appropriate option based on the following criteria:

• involvement of the private sector (construction companies, banks, etc.) in the provision of public services (in this case, the public partner, or contracting authority, is the Ministry of Transport),
• an efficient way to raise finance and ensure the project is implemented as quickly as possible, as well as mutual financial Benefit,
• optimal allocation of risks between partners,
• the opportunity to use new technologies and innovative solutions.

Description of the PPP model

The PPP model has been selected for the construction of the Ķekava
Bypass with the following conditions:

• type of contract – DBFM (design, build, finance and maintain||),
• contract duration: up to 23 years (up to 3 years for design and construction, 20 years for maintenance),
• type of payment from the public partner to the private partner – availability payments.

Construction and maintenance

The Ķekava Bypass is the first large-scale public-private partnership (PPP) road construction project in the Baltic States following the design/build/finance/maintain model. The private partner provides the design, construction, financial leverage, and maintenance for over 23 years. In the case of the Ķekava bypass, the private partner is fully responsible for all maintenance works on the site for the entire duration of the PPP contract, including cleaning, lighting, electricity for lighting and other traffic management equipment, maintenance of public transport stops, renewal of horizontal road markings, etc. Private partner guarantees that for five years after the end of the PPP contract in 2043, the Ķekava bypass road will be maintained in such a quality that it will need only routine maintenance works and no capital investment.

Information on project implementation

On 13 August 2020, the Procurement Committee decided to award a contract for a Public Private Partnership Contract for the E67/A7 Riga-Bauska-Lithuanian border (Grenctāle) section 7.9 – 25.0 km (Ķekava bypass) design, construction, the financing, and maintenance to the association of persons (PA) Kekava ABT, which consists of the public limited partnership TIIC 2 S.C.A., SICAR registered in Luxembourg, AS A.C.B., and the road construction company Binders Ltd.

From 19 October 2020, Kekava ABT PA negotiated with selected financiers to agree on the final conditions for granting the necessary funding to the project. As part of the procedure, the financiers carried out financial and technical due diligence to ascertain the applicant’s capacity to implement the project.

Following the completion of the due diligence by the financiers, the Ministry of Transport, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, ensured the EUROSTAT’s positive opinion that the assets of the Ķekava Bypass PPP project are accounted for in the private partner’s asset balance sheet, with no negative impact on the general government budget balance and debt.

On 16 July 2021, between the Republic of Latvia as public partner, represented by the Ministry of Transport, and state-owned Ltd. Latvijas Valsts ceļi, and AS Kekava ABT as the private partner was concluded Public – Private Partnership Agreement No SM 2021/-26 On E67/A7 Riga-Bauska-
design, construction, financing, and maintenance of the Lithuanian border (Grenctāle) section 7.9 – 25.0 km (Ķekava bypass).

On 29 November 2021, the construction design of the Ķekava Bypass was approved with a corresponding remark in the Construction Permit, proceeding to the construction phase, which was completed on 13 October 2023.

Since the completion of the construction works, the bypass has been open to users, and the routine maintenance phase has started.

2024 was the first full year of operation of the Ķekava bypass, with the full scope of routine maintenance works. During this year, the annual average daily traffic volume on the main route is slightly above 18,000 vehicles, which is in line with the estimate provided in the construction project.

The routine maintenance of the infrastructure is carried out by the private partner. However, LVC continues to monitor the quality of the infrastructure through regular field inspections of the bypass, video surveillance, and other control tools where necessary. Conclusion after the first full year of routine maintenance work – overall maintenance works have been carried out in accordance with the procedures and within the deadlines laid down by the regulatory enactments, ensuring maximum accessibility, comfort, and safety of the infrastructure for drivers.