Opening of the new pedestrian and vehicle terminal of the Narva-1 Border-Crossing Point

Last Monday Mr Sven Sester, Estonian Minister of Finance inaugurated a new pedestrian and vehicle terminal of the Narva-1 Border-Crossing Point (BCP) on the Estonian-Russian border that will make crossing of the border faster and more convenient and contribute to the development of tourism and business.


«Almost two decades ago a BCP that was excellent in its time was opened in Narva, which enabled to develop trade and tourism, ensure the security of the state and the people and prevent smuggling,» Sester said. «With years since then the Estonian border has become external border of the European Union and the complex of the bordercrossing point completed in 1997 was no longer meeting the needs of the traffic flows that need to be served.» Sester said that the new facility makes border crossing for travellers and businesspeople from all over the world whose path lies via Narva faster and smoother.





In his remarks released before the event, Estonian Minister of the Interior Mr Hanno Pevkur mentioned that as a result of the completion of the project crossing the border will become significantly faster and more comfortable for the people and the throughput capacity of the BCP will increase tangibly.


«The Narva Border-Crossing Point is one of the biggest road links connecting the European Union and Russia,» the minister said. The new terminal facility will definitely make a significant contribution to the region's development and the BCP's overhaul was necessary not only for the development of East-Viru County but for all of Estonia, he added.




As part of the overhaul the previous 500 square meter pedestrian terminal was pulled down and a new terminal building almost three times bigger was erected in its place. There are eight passenger queue lanes, 12 vehicle lanes and two bus lanes at the new terminal.


The opening ceremony was attended by Minister of Finance Sven Sester, Director General of the Estonian Tax and Customs Board Marek Helm, Narva City Mayor Eduard East, Head of the Department for Border Guard Policy at the Ministry of the Interior Rando Kruusmaa and Chief of the East Prefecture of the Police and Border Guard Board Vallo Koppel. The event was attended also by the following Russian partners and representatives of other institutions - Ludmila Likhacheva, Kira Ledina, Nikolay Kosyachenko, the Federal Agency for the Development of the State Border Facilities of the Russian Federation (Rosgranista); Alexey Kudryavtsev and Nikolay Melnikov, Federal State Budget institution (Rosgranstroy); Svetlana Valishvili, Municipal Fund “Ivangorod Centre for Sustainable Development”; Liubov Zabinyak, Russian Consulate General in Narva, Estonia; the head of the municipal formation "City Ivangorod" - Mikhail Korneev and other representatives of the Federal Customs Service of Russia. The head of the Joint Technical Secretariat of the EST-LAT-RUS Programme Unda Ozoliņa and the manager of the Oma Ehitaja company that carried out the construction work, Kaido Fridolin also were among the invited guests and present at the official opening ceremony.





The cost of the new border-crossing facility of Narva-1 is 7.5 million. The works were co-financed by the Estonia-Latvia-Russia Cross-Border Cooperation Programme within the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) 2007-2013 as well as the state budget.


For further information please contact Lilia Zujeva, Project Manager, Estonian Ministry of the Interior, phone: +372 612 5126, e-mail: lilia.zujeva@siseministeerium.ee