A resident contacted the Bez Tabu program (TV3), stating that the expensive boiler house has not fulfilled its functions this year. This raises the question of how reasonable it was to spend more than 2.5 million euros.
The boiler house is located in a small settlement in the Ropažs region — Upeslejas. Even on the day when the Bez Tabu (TV3) film crew visited the boiler house, the chimney of the new boiler house was not smoking. Passersby, whom we encountered by chance, also noted that this heating season they had seen the chimney of the old boiler house working more often.
It turned out that the recently constructed heating boiler has not heated the apartments of residents for the second winter in a row.
"This heating season, we launched a wood chip boiler with a capacity of 2 megawatts, but the safety system did not work. The flue gases caught fire, resulting in the flue gas filter being deformed. A builder was present at the time of the boiler's launch, who also recorded this fact. We need to understand the reason why this happened. Experts have been involved, and representatives of the manufacturer came from Austria to figure out why this occurred. Currently, it is impossible to replace the filter or carry out repairs because it would disrupt the heat production process," explained Artis Lieljūris, a board member of “Garkalnes komunālserviss.”
The problem has not been resolved for more than four months, as it is impossible to use both the old gas boiler and the new one simultaneously to conduct the necessary tests.
Funding from the European Union was obtained for the construction of the boiler house. The goal of the project was to reduce the use of fossil fuels; however, this has not been achieved in this heating season. The funding party learned about the problems with the boiler house from Bez Tabu, as well as from reports from the Ropažs region, and will now assess further actions.
"It can be said that from November until today, the indicator for reducing pollution will likely not be fully met. If we look at the report for 2025, which is soon to be presented, the boiler house operated from January 1 to November, and some volume will be counted as achieved. We will assess how significant this deviation will be and whether financial adjustments will follow. Looking at the broader picture, they already have a difficult financial situation because the boiler house needs to be restored. And if we apply financial adjustments on our side or demand the return of funds because some indicators have not been met, that will be a matter for evaluation," indicated Edgar Kalbergs, director of the Central Finance and Contracts Agency.
The installed equipment is still under warranty; however, it is currently unknown whether the defects that have arisen will fall under warranty repair.
