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International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Thursday, 28.03.2024, 15:33

New concert hall in Riga expected to cost an estimated EUR 100 mln

BC, Riga, 24.05.2018.Print version
Construction of a new acoustic concert hall in Riga would cost an estimated EUR 100 million, Latvian Culture Minister Dace Melbarde (National Alliance) said in an interview published in Ir magazine, cites LETA.

The minister voiced hope that a decision on this issue would be taken in June. “Construction costs have been rising steeply. In fact, everything has become significantly costlier than three years ago when the planning was done,” the minister said, adding that the costs of the concert hall are expected to be around EUR 100 million.


The Culture Ministry still stands by its position that it is necessary to use the public-private partnership approach to this project. “Public-private partnership means that the private partner provides the money right away – borrowing options are quite good in Europe at the moment – and there is a term in which the government repays the loan. We will warn, of course, that public-private partnership is more expensive,” the minister said.


Speaking of the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art project and how it has been impacted by ABLV Bank’s shutdown, Melbarde expressed doubts that the museum could be built entirely for budget money. Melbarde hopes therefore that private sponsors will be found so that work on the project can continue.


“I have met with Boris Teterevs who was practically the main initiator of the Museum of Contemporary Art project. He has not given up this project and says that he wants to keep working on it and to look for other sponsors. Sadly, the money of the Boris and Inara Teterev Foundation is also frozen in ABLV Bank, just like the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art Foundation, which united several donors,” the culture minister said.


“Frankly, I would be very glad if we manage to build the national concert hall in the next 5 to 10 years,” Ir quoted Melbarde as saying.


She also believes that the government should buy out the contemporary art collection if it is threatened as ABLV Bank’s asset. The value of the art collection has been estimated at around EUR 800,000.






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