I remember when your predecessor Kaido Padar took office — he promised to put an end to piecemeal construction and instead direct resources so that more kilometers [of roadwork] could be completed at once. But in a recent press release, you said the priority is to shorten repair sections in order to improve traffic.

I can't really comment on the previous director's quote. Every government agency does its job precisely as a compromise between the budget available and, on the other hand, actual needs.

Of course, we could dream bigger. Our Lithuanian colleagues talk about projects that are 47 kilometers long. Unfortunately, Estonia's budgetary limits and our small territory don't allow us to dream that big.

Those shorter sections being repaired, those don't actually improve traffic flow. Ideally we should completely overhaul Tallinn-Pärnu Highway by redirecting all trucks from Pärnu toward Mäo, where they can enter Tallinn via Tartu Highway.

[Laughs.] That would be a great dream, but for some reason I don't think any of us are really thinking like that.

Even when we do carry out larger-scale construction projects, we rarely divert traffic to an entirely new route. Usually, we have to either expand or reconstruct the existing road.

Every bit of roadwork does inconvenience road users somewhat, but they understand that the hassle will mean being able to drive on better, safer roads in the future.

Why did you laugh? Why not think big — why not fix roads in longer stretches?

Of course you can. Personally, I'm all for it; I'd be totally on board.

About four ministers ago, we attended the opening of the Kose section of [Tallinn-]Tartu Highway with one of them. The good minister asked, "But why are you building so slowly? Why is it taking several years?"

I answered, "We can only build as fast as we have money. We can't take on any obligations beyond what we can afford to pay contractors."

Indeed, we have far more will, technical capability, expertise and even need in Estonia than we have the money to carry it all out. That's what caused me to burst out laughing. It all comes down to money.

The construction procurement for the Libatse-Nurme section of Tallinn-Pärnu Highway failed — bids were too expensive. Do you yourself see from the sidelines that the construction of Rail Baltica is taking up so many resources from builders that they aren't being forced to submit cheaper bids?

Yes, you can clearly see that impact. Our own procurement strategy may have been flawed there too — we went into it with quite a mouthful. When a procurement is too big, fewer bidders are able to participate.

Now we're talking about four separate procurements, and are hoping we get better bids. Of course, we also made some changes to the technical specifications — the road's cross-section, the length, size and width of structures, and the technical side too.

We scaled back a bit, but definitely want to maintain a safe 2+2 solution. But we had to trim down some of the solutions from more opulent times, because the budget didn't allow us to proceed with everything.

The new infrastructure minister, Kuldar Leis (Reform) lives in Põlva; he has to drive home on the Tallinn-Tartu Highway. They're not building even a single inch of it in the next five years?

The government can always set its priorities in the fall, when next year's state budget and the four-year state budget strategy are being drawn up. And every year, we've revised, updated, amended or removed items from our own road maintenance plan based on the political decisions made.

But I sincerely hope that such decisions aren't made based on where a minister lives, and I can confirm that in the past nine years, that's never been the case.

If such an opportunity and need is also identified in the direction of Tartu, we already have projects there for building a 2+2 section from Kärevere to Kardla outside of Tartu, and we also have a project for the Mäo-Imavere section. We could implement those within a few years if we're funded.

Coalition politicians have been hinting that you might get more money for road construction. Have any specific promises been made to you?

Like I said, each spring, every sector outlines its dreams and wishes, which first go to their respective ministry, then to the Finance Ministry, and then heading into the fall, the government makes those longer-term decisions.

But regarding those hints — they haven't really come with any substantive direction about what we should now focus on. First and foremost, we have to ensure the safety of our existing roads.

And speaking of funding, even those various sections of Pärnu Highway are 85 percent or 50 percent funded by the European Union, and the rest comes from the Estonian state.

You mentioned that spring is the time to send in your requests. Do those include anything about Tallinn-Tartu Highway?

Yes, they do.

What exactly?

In short, Estonia has made a commitment to the EU to build out its main highways by the year 2030. Meaning Tallinn-Tartu and Tallinn-Pärnu with 2+2 lanes.

So you'll be submitting a construction application for the Mäo-Imavere section too?

We're submitting additional applications for both of the main highways, because they need to be built.

In fact, even just to maintain the road network at its current level, we would need around €203 million annually. Right now we have about €100 million for that — so we'll start there, and seek additional resources through additional funding requests. How much we'll get, I don't know. And the other side is building out the main highways.

To fulfill the promise made at some point of completing this in five years, we'd need €300 million a year. Right now, we have something like €50-60 million annually available for construction, and even most of that is tied up in Rail Baltica overpasses.

And as I said, we're building even the Pärnu Highway largely with EU money. The needs are in an entirely different ballpark than the resources currently available.

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