SRE: emergency construction works in the Valmiera Drama Theatre building are planned to start next week; agreement has been signed with the contractor SIA “AIMASA”

SJSC “State Real Estate” (SRE) has concluded an agreement for 1.75 million euros with the contractor SIA “AIMASA” for the performance of the urgent construction works necessary to ensure the mechanical strength and stability of the supporting structures of the Valmiera Drama Theatre (VDT) building, informs Jeļena Gavrilova, member of the Board of the SJSC “State Real Estate”.

In order to immediately ensure the continuity of the reconstruction works and the safety of the building, the contractor was selected through a negotiated procedure. The contractor SIA “AIMASA” is to carry out emergency construction works within six months, including reinforcement and construction of the foundations, construction of the supporting structures of the building in accordance with the solutions of the construction design.

“In the difficult situation that has arisen in Valmiera Drama Theatre after termination of the Agreement with SBSC (“Skonto Būve” and “Skonto Construction”), we are doing everything to ensure that the reconstruction works continue as quickly as possible. A solution has already been found for the emergency works, and we are now preparing the procurement of the remaining works until the facility is ready for commissioning,” says Gavrilova.

SRE terminated the Agreement with the previous contractor for the reconstruction of the VDT building – the general partnership SBSC, because after repeated requests it failed to comply with the laws and regulations, including the guidelines on the estimation and compensation of the construction cost increase developed by the Ministry of Economics, to justify the causal link between the 50% or 3.8 million euros (with VAT) increase in construction costs and the start of hostilities in Ukraine, as well as the inability to provide documents confirming the justification of the requested increase in several items of the estimate. Also, the actual execution of the works fell far short of the contractual execution – as of 31 August 2022, the actual execution of the works was only 17%, while according to the contractual schedule it should have been 50% of the total works. Also in the New Riga Theatre reconstruction project, SBSC is behind schedule – in this project, the builder is tasked with mobilising resources to complete the Agreement on time and deliver results.