Sorainen in close co-operation with lead advisor Loyens & Loeff (Brussels) and the client’s financial and technical teams provided full legal assistance at the bidding stage to Kekava ABT consortium members in relation to participation in this landmark PPP project in Latvia – Kekava Bypass.
About the project
Kekava Bypass will become a part of VIA Baltica (E67) – a 1,722 km road joining 6 countries from Prague (CH) to Helsinki (FI). This is the first PPP project in Latvia reaching a size of over 100 million EUR. It includes design, construction, operation and maintenance of the bypass from Riga to the Lithuanian border and forms part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) and the VIA Baltica. Portuguese infrastructure investor TIIC (Kekava ABT member, along with local ACB and Binders) was competing against Spanish investor Grupo Azvi’s concessions subsidiary Cointer. Public partner Latvian State Roads has just announced Kekava ABT as the preferred bidder.
Our services and team
We provided legal risk assessment, specific advice on legal issues relating to the specifics of the project and its technical aspects (e.g. EIA, permits, construction standards, PPP procurement), as well as making a detailed analysis of the draft PPP contract, drafting proposals for improvements to raise the bankability of the project and mitigate the risks. The most challenging and demanding part of the project so far was representation of the client in direct and lengthy contract negotiations with the highly professional Procurement Authority. The State of Latvia has invested considerable resources and knowledge into this project and its success will set the future for PPP projects in Latvia.
The client was advised by partners Lelde Laviņa and Rūdolfs Eņģelis with senior associates, Inese Heinacka and Viktorija Smirnova-Čerkasa.
