As reported previously, the building design for the Road Traffic Safety Directorate’s station in Jelgava was developed by architect office “Arhis”, but the construction phase was carried out by LLC “Latvijas energoceltnieks”. The construction costs amounted to about 1.8 million euros. The cornerstone ceremony took place on 14th December 2017.
On Saturday, 22nd September, the new technical inspection station opened its doors in Jelgava with a great ceremony. Once the station was opened, the final this year’s Technical Inspection Night took place where free diagnostics were performed for 304 vehicles. The highest point of the evening was reached when technical inspection was performed for RAF (Rafiņš), a true legend of Jelgava; there were 18 thousand of these vehicles manufactured, showing that Jelgava is a true city of automotive industry.
Uldis Augulis, the Minister of Transportation, addressed the public by saying: “Today we open in Jelgava the most modern technical inspection station in Latvia, which is also the largest station in the region. The station is so spacious that it can be used not only by people from Jelgava but also from surrounding areas and districts. Convenient, spacious, and up-to-date – these words best describe the new station.”
Andris Lukstiņš, the Chairman of the Management Board of the Road Traffic Safety Directorate: “The moment is finally here when people from Jelgava can rejoice because Jelgava station has doubled its previous size in order to make the technical inspection more convenient and accessible. Instead of the previous two technical inspection lines, the new station will have four lines – allowing us to service larger number of vehicles.”
In the attendance of the opening of the station there was Andris Rāviņš, the Mayor of Jelgava, as well as management team of “Auteko TUV Latvija” and TUV Rheinland”.
For the first time in Jelgava – Technical Inspection Night
Once the station was opened, the Technical Inspection Night took place in Jelgava for the first time attracting large number of drivers. During the event the Road Traffic Safety Directorate offered free vehicle diagnostics and general public was welcomed to witness the convenience and spaciousness of the new station.
Although the day took off rainy, weather conditions improved hour-by-hour. At the beginning of the event rain was completely gone which allowed people to enjoy the Technical Inspection Night. During the sole this year’s Technical Inspection Night in Semigallia, specialists checked 304 vehicles and found major or minor defects in 71% of vehicles. People in Jelgava were truly interested in the event which is shown by the fact that 71 drivers had come to the Technical Inspection Night to actually carry out technical inspection for their vehicles.
The most often defects are associated with breakage and suspension systems as well as inadequate lights. The oldest vehicle for which free diagnostics was performed was Lada (Žigulītis) manufactured back in 1971; the average age of vehicles at the event was 16 years.
(Material taken from csdd.lv publication)
