European structural funds will be utilised to finance a project for substituting gas with woodchip, told regional council members. This would allow to save up to 90% of gas currently used to heat homes. A significant saving for a region that has some of the highest heating costs in the country. According to regional leadership, more than 3,000 applications for heat and electricity subsidies have been received already.
President of Latvia asked about the impact of regional reform on Jēkabpils region after the amalgamation of 5 regions and Jēkabpils city, which also gave Jēkabpils the status of ‘state city’. Regional council representatives indicated that reform has increased region’s financial capacity, especially for rural areas. This will allow to implement development projects on a wider scale. Different levels of infrastructure across the vast territory of the region remains one of the biggest regional challenges.
Meeting also focused on cooperation between local and central governments. Members of regional council described procurement requirements as complex and time-consuming. These factors delay municipal emergency response in cases like sudden energy price hikes. President Levits indicated that simplification of procurement requirements is one of the main tasks that the new government, which is currently being negotiated, will have to address.
A long delayed reconstruction of Jēkabpils State Gymnasium was another topic addressed during the meeting. President also praised Jēkabpils region for early introduction of national defence classes in all schools during the discussion on the overall development of school network.
Earlier in the day President Levits visited several local companies, including Brodoor, which makes donors, manufacturer of acoustic panels, loudspeakers and speaker cabinets ‘Aija Audio’, which has recently stepped up its capacity and expanded the operations to strengthen its positions in this market niche. In the first part of his regional visit, Egils Levits also went to one of the biggest enterprises in Jēkabpils and biggest employer, full-cycle construction company ‘Jēkabpils PMK’, which creates innovative and energy-efficient construction materials together with Faculty of Building and Civil Engineering of Riga Technical University.
President of Latvia Egils Levits also presented the new regional coat of arms to Jēkabpils Regional Council during his visit.
