Estonia to invest over EUR 680 mln in road maintenance until 2027

TALLINN – Estonia's Ministry of Climate has come up with a road maintenance plan for 2024-2027, according to which the government  will channel 680.5 million euros to road maintenance during the period in question.

This is 76 million euros more than in the road maintenance plan for the previous four years, but due to the decrease in external funds, the sum total increased by 37 million euros, the ministry said.

Allocations from the state budget for the maintenance of state roads are estimated to total of 543.8 million euros in the next four years. An amount of 136.7 million euros will be added to this from the Cohesion Fund and the Connecting Europe Facility.

Major road projects in the coming years include the construction of four-lane highways in the Parnu-Uulu, Sauga-Parnu and Libatse-Nurme sections of the Tallinn-Parnu-Ikla road, as well as the construction of items related to Rail Baltic. 

"The road network will need substantial investment in the coming years to complete the construction of our main roads so that they meet valid requirements, as well as to maintain the existing ones. Given the investment needs, the current road maintenance plan is not sufficient in financial terms, but we have to take into account the state of public finances and the challenges that we have," Minister of Climate Kristen Michal said.

The minister said opportunities are constantly being sought to increase funding for road maintenance -- both in the negotiations on the multi-annual budget strategy and from various funds, including the military mobility action plan of the Connecting Europe Facility.