Border construction

First phase of construction on the south-eastern border

On 31 January 2019, the PBGB announced the procurement for the first phase of construction work on the south-eastern border. The border construction includes establishment of a patrol road and access roads, a obstacle fence and animal fence, sand strip, power supply, data link, and sewerage (not including the monitoring and surveillance equipment).

The first phase of construction of the south-eastern border encompasses a 23.5-km-long stretch of border that runs along the border areas in Võru County. from the three-country border point to Luhamaa border crossing point. According to risk assessments, this is the most problematic border segment, with a greater than average number of border incidents.

​​ Figure 1: the first phase of construction on the south-eastern border includes the border segment from the three-country point to Luhamaa border crossing point

If the procurement goes successfully, a committee is expected by March 2019 to determine which tenderers advanced past the qualification round. Tenderers that meet the requirements will then receive access to the basic project documentation for the south-eastern border infrastructure, allowing them to finalize their tender. On condition that the procurement goes smoothly, the best tenderer will be presumably signed to a contract in autumn 2019 and the construction will start by early 2020 if the weather conditions permit.

After weighing different options, it was decided that construction of the land border will be divided into several stages. In this manner, tenderers will be given more equal opportunity to take part in the tender and it will guarantee that the works are within the capacity of a single builder, will remain within the planned timeframe and the result would be high quality, allowing border security to be maintained at a high level even decades in the future. Once work has started on the first border segment, the preparation and announcement of the next construction procurements will continue on a rolling basis.

Video: the situation on the land border prior to border construction

Video: the situation on the land border after border construction