Roland Peterson, an expert in logistics and transportation, expresses his views on the current state of the Latvian roads

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Roland Peterson, an expert in logistics and
transportation, expresses his views on the
current state of the Latvian roads
1888PressRelease - Roland Peterson, an expert in
logistics and transportation, expresses his views
on the current state of the Latvian roads, as
well as on the reasons for the existing problems
with a view to finding constructive solutions to
the various road issues. The transport
development has caused objective problems for
traffic in cities around the world, including
Latvia, and the reason for this is a rapid
increase in the number of vehicles. Road
congestion is the most urgent problem in a trip
planning because it affects the total time of
transportation and, therefore, costs that have a
particular relevance to the logistics industry.
The quality of the roads, a painful subject in
the past, has a significant impact on
transportation time. Without high-quality roads,
it is impossible to improve the efficiency of
transport, which, in the context of economic
globalization, is said to be one of the main
directions for the logistics development. Promise
s against statistics At the end of 2017,
according to the report "Global Competitiveness
Index", which was annually compiled by experts
from the World Economic Forum, Latvia was not
ranked among the top 100 countries of the world's
rating. (out of 137 countries participating in
the ranking, Latvia took 107th place, and
Lithuania and Estonia took the 37th and 38th
places) Despite this, VAS (State Roads of Latvia)
announced that, despite the increase in traffic
on Latvian roads, their quality has been improved
in recent years. EU assessment - Stable 3
points. In 2017, 65.1 million euros were spent on
the development of the national roads, including
32.3 million for the summer period works, and
32.8 million for the winter period works. In the
same year, it was also planned to spend 37
million more, compared with the previous year.
However, even these investments have not resulted
in the average level of road quality in the
European Union. According to the latest report,
the average level in the EU is estimated at 4.76
points, Latvia, compared to that has been given
3.05 points.The state of the roads not only
hinders the development of the logistics industry
but also contributes to the disproportionate
level and the pace of social and economic
development of the regions.
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The most remote regions of Latvia can develop
tourism facilities, offer industrial premises for
entrepreneurs, etc. however, if there is no road
system to get to these cites, no results shall be
expected. The state of the roads not only hinders
the development of the logistics industry but
also contributes to the disproportionate level
and the pace of social and economic development
of the regions. The most remote regions of Latvia
can develop tourism facilities, offer industrial
premises for entrepreneurs, etc. however, if
there is no road system to get to these cites, no
results shall be expected. Financing is eight
times less than it needs to be. "Requests for the
organization of roads," "Road quality is
catastrophic" - these headlines often appear in
the mass media, while road maps try to reduce the
existing damage by implementation of available
sources, however, there is no sign of a
significant improvement, when the funding is
eight times less than it is necessary. At the
same time, we make the mistake of struggling only
with the consequences of the disease, when we
need to identify the root of the problem and take
the preventive measures. One of the main problems
that can be figured out now is the climate of the
country, which in Latvia will not change
significantly in the future, therefore, the
problem will remain constant. The number of
vehicles will also increase, so the question is
how to increase financing, which is the most
important addition to the urgent issues. 130
million euros are required annually for
maintenance and repair works of local and gravel
roads but this amount cannot be provided only by
EU funds. It is also completely unclear how the
situation will look like in 2020, after the end
of EU funding program. Without the excise tax on
fuel, there is no chance for survival The fact
that the change is expected in 2020, the spring
of 2018 is said to be the moment to start an
intensive work and stimulate actions - change
existing arrangements related to the existing tax
system (only a third of the tax, paid by road
users, are redirected to roads). The time when it
was possible to pull out a part of the income
from tax has passed. Furthermore, we need to
increase the number of public-private partnership
projects in the sphere of the road construction,
although this stage requires a proper
preparation. In addition to financing, other
necessary support measures need to be introduced
dumping water from roads in certain areas, timely
planning, more restrictive control on roads,
etc. https//cpmtrade.eu/