The Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications Juhan Parts replied to the interpellation concerning the maintenance of national roads (No 130), submitted by Members of the Riigikogu Deniss Boroditš, Enn Eesmaa, Inara Luigas, Lembit Kaljuvee, Mihhail Stalnuhhin, Peeter Võsa, Priit Toobal, Tarmo Tamm, Valeri Korb, Vladimir Velman and Yana Toom on 9 March. 

In Parts’s words, several amendments had been made in the organisation of road management from 2005 onwards. He admitted that not all of them had yielded the desired results. According to the Minister’s explanations, in the organisation of road management, the Road Administration had been reorganised in 2009 and it had been merged with the Motor Vehicle Registration Centre so that traffic safety and road management would be under one and the same agency. Parts noted that, starting from 2009, all road maintenance was carried out on a contractual basis. The state authorities that had existed earlier, during the transition period from 1998 onwards, the so-called “road governments” no longer exist. As of 2011, the Road Administration is also a single agency in terms of internal organisation which means, in other words, that also the Road Administration should be capable of acting uniformly on the whole territory of Estonia in road maintenance as well. The earlier 15 separate agencies, namely, county road governments and four regional road governments have been integrated into a single state authority in legal terms. According to Parts’s explanations, the Government had planned to sell the state companies engaging in road maintenance by auction in 2008‒2009. In the Minister’s words, that plan had been given up because no sufficient competition had taken place in road maintenance and the interest in the five state companies had been very weak in 2009 and 2010. He stated that, due to the scarcity of competition, the application of sufficient sanctions referred to in the audit of the National Audit Office had also been problematic. This was also one reason why we formed one larger public limited company “Eesti Teed” of the five state companies that were operating in this field, Parts said. 

In the Minister’s words, the requirements for the state of roads had been specified in 2011. The requirements for the state of roads are going to be reviewed additionally on the basis of the results of this audit. As to road maintenance in winter, it is true that the very snowy winters of the last year and the year before also brought out several additional shortcomings, Parts stated. He thought that the audit of the National Audit Office had been useful to the Ministry of Economic Affairs insofar as it provided a third party view of the deficiencies in the supervision of road maintenance and compliance with the requirements for the state of roads. Parts admitted that principal changes need to be made in that regard, and the sanctions applied for violation of the requirements, together with the exercise of supervision, will have to be ensured better than before. 

The Chancellor of Justice Indrek Teder replied to the interpellation concerning the subsection 134 (3) of the Law of Obligations Act being in conflict with the Constitution (No 123), submitted by Members of the Riigikogu Andres Anvelt, Eiki Nestor, Helmen Kütt, Indrek Saar, Jaak Allik, Jaan Õunapuu, Kajar Lember, Kalev Kotkas, Karel Rüütli, Marianne Mikko, Mart Meri, Rannar Vassiljev, Rein Randver, Sven Mikser and Urve Palo on 20 February. 

The Minister of Justice Kristen Michal replied to the interpellation concerning suspicions of corruption in connection with construction works without building permits (No 132), submitted by Members of the Riigikogu Inara Luigas, Lauri Laasi, Mihhail Stalnuhhin, Peeter Võsa, Viktor Vassiljev and Vladimir Velman on 7 March. 

The Minister of Agriculture Helir-Valdor Seeder replied to the interpellation concerning the matters relating to Aardla Land Improvement Association (No 135), submitted by Members of the Riigikogu Deniss Boroditš, Ester Tuiksoo, Kadri Simson, Lauri Laasi, Peeter Võsa, Priit Toobal, Tarmo Tamm and Viktor Vassiljev on 13 March. 

The Minister of Social Affairs Hanno Pevkur replied to two interpellations. They were the following: 

the interpellation concerning the Child Protection Act (No 125), submitted by Members of the Riigikogu Eldar Efendijev, Ester Tuiksoo, Inara Luigas, Mailis Reps, Mihhail Stalnuhhin, Olga Sõtnik, Valeri Korb, Viktor Vassiljev and Yana Toom on 22 February; 

the interpellation concerning the measures mitigating the poverty of children (No 131), submitted by Members of the Riigikogu Eiki Nestor, Heljo Pikhof, Helmen Kütt, Kalev Kotkas, Marianne Mikko, Neeme Suur, Rein Randver, Sven Mikser and Urve Palo on 6 March. 

During the open microphone, Rainer Vakra took the floor. 

The Riigikogu Press Service