The next stage in the development of the common urban space of Valga and Valka will be the areas in the immediate vicinity of the newly built city center – the Pedeli River recreation area on both sides of the Ramsi Bridge and the surrounding areas of Konnaoja from Sõpruse Street to Sepa Street.
The project was officially launched on the 1st of February and during the first four months number of important activities have already been completed. The project Subsidy Contract between the main partner Valga Municipality and the Managing Authority was signed on the 3rd of March, and on the same day a joint meeting of the project partners was held to plan and coordinate further activities. As the activities of the project partners within this project are slightly different, the description of most important activities carried out during first months are given separately about Valga and Valka.
On Valga’s side composing the building design for cleaning two Pedeli lakes has started and the application for cleaning the lakes was submitted to the Environmental Board of Estonia. After reviewing the application the Environmental Board started the process of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the program is now ready and published. EIA program public presentation was organised on 27.05.2021 via Microsoft Teams and is available here: https://kobras.sharepoint.com/:v:/s/KeskkondK/EYwa7jHYZVVBp1DmqhW-4TEBhOkIrBWBO9ewsh6Q1RFmzQ?e=RdmGB6. Presentation was prepared by AS Kobras who is responsible for Environmental Impact Assessment procedure. The work continues with compiling the report of Environmental Impact assessment to find the best solution for cleaning the lakes and ensure the smallest possible impact to the water body.
On Valka’s side a topographic survey of the entire project territory has been done. The procurement for finding technical project designer has been carried out and an agreement with SIA “BM Projekts” is signed. Valka municipality officials have organized several technical meetings with the designer and two different sketches of the project area have been presented. A more suitable option was selected and additional suggestions for improvements were made to get the best possible solution for project territory. As a result of the feedback and discussions, the latest version of the sketch has been completed. As the designer’s vision partially covers the area within the Estonian territory, co-operation has been efficient with the Valga municipality officials to find solutions to technical and legal issues on Estonia-Latvia border area. In parallel with site design, municipality officials deal with private land issues and negotiations with landowners.
The total cost of the project “Renovation of the Valga-Valka Twin Town Recreation Area” is 926,137.34 euros, of which the support of the Estonian-Latvian cooperation programme is 787,216.73 euros. The municipalities of Valga and Valka each contribute approximately 70,000 euros.
This article expresses the views of the author. The managing authority of the program is not responsible for how this information may be used.
