The original plan was to complete the 22-kilometer stretch of the highway between Libatse and Nurme in two parts. Last summer, a procurement was announced for the 12-kilometer Are-Nurme section, but the procurement failed.

"We received tender offers, but unfortunately, the offers exceeded our budget," admitted Hannes Vaidla, director of the Transport Administration's Western Region.

"The projected cost of this construction procurement was around €60 million, but the lowest offer was €69 million," he noted. "Higher offers were well over €100 million already, so the difference between the offers themselves was also very significant."

Vaidla added that the area in question involves very challenging geological conditions. "There are moving varved clay layers below [here], and building on top of that is difficult," he explained.

Now, the Transport Administration hopes that building the road in four sections instead of two will save around €10 million, broadening the pool of potential bidders as well as reducing the road's cross-section.

"In this project, we reviewed and optimized the road's entire cross-section, meaning we slightly reduced the cross-section," Vaidla said. "Of course, this will not negatively impact safety or the environment."

According to the regional chief, these savings will come at the cost of an approximately six-month delay in the start of construction.

The Transport Administration plans to issue a procurement in March for the 7-kilometer Are bypass section of the road, construction of which is expected to begin this summer.

Verston, one of the companies that took part in the failed procurement, says that this road is urgently needed, but predicts that the start of construction will be delayed by more than six months due to the new procurements.

"If the Transport Administration has thoroughly analyzed and calculated this and has concluded that it can be built for cheaper, then that's likely actually the case," acknowledged Verston Eesti CEO Tarvi Kliimask. "It has to be understood, though, that at least as far as we know, these new procurements that are now being announced are for design and construction method procurements, and that could in fact actually mean that construction on site still won't begin anytime soon."

Tori Municipality is mainly interested in the Are-Nurme section of the highway being completed.

"We're currently in a situation where there hasn't been a grocery store in the small town of Are for several years," explained Tori Municipal Mayor Lauri Luur. "And it's impossible to attract a single business there because the situation is unclear, in terms of whether and when [this road] is coming."

What is certain is that the entire 22-kilometer section of the Via Baltica highway, originally slated to be completed by 2027, will not be finished on time. The Transport Administration hopes to have it completed by the end of 2029.

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