Raivo Vare: developing South East Estonian railway transit is not in the interests of the state

Raivo Vare: developing South East Estonian railway transit is not in the interests of the state

BC, Tallinn, 15.11.2013.

http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/transport/&doc=83725

Estonian transit expert Raivo Vare said at an economic forum in Valga that the volume of railroad transit via South-East Estonia will not grow in near future, and hence there will not be many new jobs in this sector; at the same time, local governments ought to develop the business environment more than they have, and they should also create jobs, reported LETA/Public Broadcasting.

Regional leaders have for years considered railroad transit from Russia to Latvia via South-East Estonia to be an economic activity with great potential, but millions of euros worth cargo turnover have not been generated, even after the Koidula Customs Checkpoint was built, reported the TV news programme Aktuaalne Kaamera.

"I am not certain that it would be in Estonia's interests to develop that line too much since Estonia's interest would be to keep the Northern channels at her side, not that transit would go via South East Estonia to Riga. That would mean cargo moving via the Riga port. The name of that route is Via Hanseatica, but the chances of that have started to decrease in time," said Vare.

The Byelorussian-Lithuanian-Estonian transit moves via South East Estonia but the obstacle there is the long road via Latvia. "Byelorussia's peculiarity as compared to the back areas of Russia is that Byelorussia doesn’t have an exit to the sea and that creates a new situation where it is better to work via the Port of Tallinn. Today, the prices in the Latvian territory are non-competitive," said Vare.

Participants of the forum agreed that instead of transit, the town of Valga has become an important hub for Northern Latvia and companies and parish and town leaders should take that into account more.