On Wednesday, 5 October, Riga City Council decided to accept donations in the amount of 268,385 euro from the "Ziedot.lv" foundation, which are to be used for the demolition of the Victory Park monument. Whereas, the society for transparency Delna has admitted that the procedure of selection of demolition contractor was lawful and fair.
The City Council authorised the Mayor of Riga, Mārtiņš Staķis, to sign the donation agreement on behalf of the local government. "I thank the residents for their donations, and the charity foundation Ziedot.lv for the organised campaign!", said M. Staķis today, pointing at the importance of society involvement.
The Mayor also informed that 95% of the demolition works of the monument complex have already been completed and 5% will be completed in the nearest future. "If we analyse the recently implemented major projects, we have to conclude that they have always resulted from successful cooperation between national government, local government, NGOs and entrepreneurs. The same thing applies to this situation concerning the demolition of the monument. A builder was selected which was really capable of completing the work really quickly", added M. Staķis.
“Right after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we received a call from citizens to organise an action to demolish the monument in Victory Park. After the events of 9 and 10 May, we realised that politicians had to come and give a hand, and in a very short period of time, more than 265,000 euro were donated for the demolition of the monument. The aim was symbolic – removal of debris, removal of our painful past. We agreed with Riga City Council that the bronze figures and the obelisk of the monument should be turned into debris, so that the donated money could be used for their removal”, said Rūta Dimanta, head of Ziedot.lv.
The society for transparency Delna, which was involved in monitoring of the demolition process, has issued an interim report on the procedure of selection of demolition contractor. Inese Tauriņa, Director of the society: "We assessed whether the process was carried out in good faith and in accordance with the laws and regulations, we analysed documents, consulted with the Procurement Monitoring Bureau, and spoke to all the builders involved. Conclusion – Riga City Council has acted both in good faith and lawful manner. Furthermore, we have entered into a contract with the Monuments Agency to make sure that the funds are used for their intended purpose throughout the process of works."
Information was prepared by: Uģis Vidauskis, Head of External Communication Division of Riga City Council Communication Department, e-mail: ugis.vidauskis@riga.lv
