Rīga’s Skanste neighbourhood finally gets its first park

In Riga, the revitalisation of the Skanste area has progressed and taken real shape. The first park in the neighbourhood, which was difficult to make and fraught with problems, has been officially opened. Now the landscaping of the area is complete and open to the public, Latvian Television reported on 15 April.

The first park in Skanste has been officially opened for residents to spend time with their children, play sports or just relax. It is an area of almost 18 hectares with a walking trail, children’s playgrounds, fitness equipment and other activities.

On Tuesday, the park was bright with smiles, but the road to get there was not so bright. If everything had gone as planned, the new streets and park in the neighbourhood should have been in place about two and a half years ago. This did not happen because the ground in the area is unstable, it consolidated or settled unevenly. This made the work very difficult, which was only one of the problems.

Ilze Purmale, Director of the Urban Development Department at Riga City Council, said: “The other was that remediation works were needed in two places. Historical contamination of oil products in this area was revealed, related to the railway inlet, because historically there was a terminus for the railway here.”

Moreover, the property continues to settle. The landscaping of the area has now been completed, new roads have been built, but only the first phase of the project has been completed.

Dagnis Samausks, Director of the Project Management Office of the Urban Development Department of the Riga City Council, explained, “The soil will slowly settle according to the added gravity, and at certain indicators, when this settlement has normalised, we will be able to work on the second phase of the revitalisation of the Skanste area.”

The second phase of the project involves the construction of utilities: municipal sewerage and water networks in the area to connect adjacent areas to the city network. This could start in about five to seven years, once the ground has settled.