Tetas, a company of the EPSO-G group of companies implementing the physical barrier project on the border with Belarus, has started installing 4 metre high fence segments at key sections. These segments are being installed first on the border section near Druskininkai, where a concertina has already been built. Representatives of the EPSO-G team presented the progress of the work at the border to the Project Oversight Committee chaired by the Prime Minister on Wednesday.
The fence segments and concertina, which are manufactured in Poland and the Netherlands in accordance with the technical requirements of the State Border Guard Service (SBGS), will be transported most rapidly to the most important sections of the approximately 100 kilometres long border in November and December. At the same time, Tetas is planning the biggest mobilisation of staff and contractors, and the physical barrier will be the fastest growing.
This week, the construction of the concertina pyramid is starting on other sections of the first phase of the project – near the A. Barauskas and Adutiškis border barriers. Tetas plans to install the concertina in all three most vulnerable sections of the first phase by the end of this year and the fence segments by the end of April next year.
In preparation for the second phase of the project, the installation of a physical barrier of around 400 kilometres, EPSO-G is in the midst of the procurement process. 12 suppliers submitted bids for the second phase of the physical barrier. The construction work for the second phase is divided into four lots, with 7 to 10 suppliers bidding for each lot. The suppliers’ bids are currently being evaluated, the selected companies will be invited to negotiate and the procurement procedures are expected to be finalised by the end of November.
When installing a physical barrier at the border with Belarus, the first step is to build a pyramid of 5 or 6 spirals of the concertina, with fence segments installed next to the concertina on the Lithuanian side. The fence segments, which are made in accordance with the requirements of the SSAT, are weather- and soil-resistant and are fixed to poles that are embedded in the ground. A concertina spiral is fixed at the top of the fence and the total height of the spiral fence is 4 metres.
Tetas plans to complete the first phase of the approximately 100 km two-part physical barrier – the concertina pyramid and the concertina spiral fence at the top – by 30 April 2022. The full physical barrier on Lithuania’s border with Belarus will be in place by 1 September next year.
The Project Supervisory Commission is chaired by the Prime Minister and includes the Ministers of the Interior, Energy, National Defence, Environment and Finance, the Head of the SSAT, the Head of the State Territorial Planning and Construction Inspectorate under the Ministry of the Environment, and a representative of the EPSO-G group of companies implementing the project.
