PPA signs contract on construction of second phase of southeastern border
AS Merko Ehitus and GRK Infra AS entered into a contract with the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) on Tuesday to design and construct the infrastructure of sections 4-6 of Estonia's southeast land border.
The contract value is approximately €15.8 million, plus value added tax. The works are scheduled to be completed in April 2025, Merko announced.
The contract concerns design and construction works for a 34.7-kilometer border segment in Võru County. The border segment will be built from Tserebi village on the southern shore of Lake Vanigojärv up to the village of Võmmorski.
Six eligible tenderers participated in the tender for the second phase of the works on the southeast border, with offers that were fairly close. On the basis of the price criterion, a joint offer by AS Merko Ehitus Eesti and AS GRK Infra won the contract, the PPA said.
"The second phase of the border construction covers a nearly 35-kilometer segment of the border from the village of Tserebi on Lake Vanigojärv almost to the border crossing of Koidula. According to current estimates, the construction of the second section of the border will take about three years," Egert Belitsev, head of the border guard department at the PPA, said in a press release.
The cost of the construction work at the second phase of the southeast border is in the same order of magnitude as for the first construction phase, although the section of the border to be built is longer almost by half.
"This is mainly because in the second border section to be built, the terrain is significantly easier, allowing savings to be made at the expense of pontoon roads that have to be built in a marshy area," he said.
The border guard chief added that all construction work on the first 23.5-kilometer section of the border is going ahead as planned.
"Construction works are already underway on this section of the border on a 20-kilometer section of the border. Almost all necessary access roads have been built, along with about 1.5 kilometers of pontoon roads over marshy areas and about 7.5 kilometers of delaying fence," Belitsev said.
"At a time when new ways are being used for committing border crime, also border guards must increasingly use modern technology so that our work is targeted and effective. The external border that is hundreds of kilometers long, which will be covered with modern surveillance and surveillance systems, will give border guards the opportunity to use their professionalism where they are most valuable, instead of engaging in machine-like work," Belitsev said.
AS Merko Ehitus Eesti is an Estonian construction company that offers construction services in general construction, civil engineering, electrical and residential construction and develops residential real estate.
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Editor: Kristjan Kallaste