Contractors receive more criticism than praise from Roma Museckienė, the port's infrastructure director.
Hidrostatyba, which is building Kairių Street leading to the port's ferry terminal together with its partner Lemminkainen, in an exception. Under a contract worth 33.8 million litas (EUR 9.7m), the work is to be completed in March 2014, but the rapid speed at which the street is being built suggests that most of it will be ready for use this year, the director believes.
Klaipėdos Smeltė's quays unexpectedly became one of the most difficult stretches of the port.
While Germany's Josef Mobius and Lokys, a now-bankrupt Lithuanian company, were buildings quays 82 to 89, the stevedoring company's shareholders changed and so did the purpose of the quays. There were lengthy arguments about who would modify the project and who would pay for that.
After Klaipėdos Hidrotechnika and Josef Mobius won a contract for new quays, numbers 90 to 96, it was expected that the work would go much more smoothly.
As part of its plans to handle containers at Klaipėdos Smeltė, the company's owner, Terminal Investment Limited (TIL), earmarked 100 million litas for investments in cranes and other equipment. However, this business plan fell through because of disagreements between the contractors and the port's authority. The cranes have been delivered, but the quays have not been built yet.
