"With traffic at the Klaipėda port being on the increase and with a deep-water port in Būtingė in prospect, the planned network of roads, the infrastructure, is one of those valuable components that are important for the economy. Having one more serious motorway in addition to the existing one between Kaunas and Klaipėda would be a great advantage," he told reporters after the Cabinet's meeting.
The minister spoke after the government granted the Klaipėda-Telšiai-Šiauliai-Panevėžys-Visaginas route the status of an economic project of national importance.
Based on preliminary estimates, around 200 million litas (EUR 58 m) will need to be invested in the roads that will be used for transporting heavy and oversized cargo from the port of Klaipėda to Visaginas, in the eastern part of the country, for the new nuclear power plant project. Financing sources are still being discussed.
Lithuania expects to build the new facility by 2020-2022 together with Japan's Hitachi as the strategic investor and Latvian and Estonian energy companies. The new plant is estimated to cost up to 5 billion euros to build, with Japanese, US, and European banks expected to provide some 50-70 percent of the financing.
