Aizkraukle finds no shelter meeting all requirements

Aizkraukle municipality has identified 43 civil protection shelters, but none currently meets all the established requirements, LSM reported, citing Latvian Television.

Seven shelters were planned for adaptation and equipment with support from European Union funds. However, the first procurement ended without a result because the bids exceeded the available funding.

A reading room at Aizkraukle Library is normally open to the public, but it is intended to shelter about 420 people in an emergency. It is one of the 43 shelters identified in the municipality.

“There is not a single shelter in our municipality that fully meets all the requirements. All of them are partially compliant, and the library is one of those in very good condition,” said Evija Vectirāne, deputy head of the Aizkraukle municipality communications department.

She said the library still needed improvements to its ventilation and water supply.

More than 320,000 euros had been allocated to adapt the seven shelters for civil protection needs, with the work planned to finish by next spring. However, the bids in the first procurement exceeded the funding available from the state and the municipality.

The municipality is now preparing new specifications and plans to reduce some requirements so that the allocated funds will be sufficient. Minimum safety requirements will remain, while alternative technical solutions will be allowed.

In the new procurement, design and construction will be combined, allowing bidders to propose different technical solutions, said Aizkraukle municipality executive director Uldis Riekstiņš. For example, a tunnel-like entrance with a maze could be allowed instead of two doors. Ventilation and a number of toilets corresponding to the shelter’s capacity will remain mandatory.

A Latvian Radio programme previously reported that bomb shelters in the basements of state and municipal buildings could accommodate only about half a million people.