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RIGA, Jan 11 (LETA) - The new Riga City Council has increased funding for the social sector and preschool education, said Riga Mayor Martins Stakis (For Development/For) in a press conference on the first 100 days of the Riga City Council.

The politician said that funding has been granted for infrastructure, bonus payments to social workers, Riga municipal police officials for work during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Also, EUR 11,000 were paid to teachers in premiums before Christmas.

In order to improve the work of the Riga City Council and ensure good administration principles, open tenders are held for the leading positions in the local government, and performance of the current officials is being assessed, said Stakis.

In order to promote business and develop business environments, work on formation of the Riga Investment Agency is going on.

Riga Vice Mayor Vilnis Kirsis (New Unity) said that Riga in cooperation with Pieriga municipalities have prepared an application for investments for development of Riga transport infrastructure with the European Recovery and Resilience Facility (ERRF).

As the new Riga City Council has started work, expenses of Rigas Satiksme municipal public transport company have been cut by EUR 14 million, Kirsis said.

In order to ensure faster coordination of development project, the Riga City construction authority has introduced a "green corridor". Also, the Riga city construction authority and the city architect's bureau will be reorganized, merging these two units with the Riga City Council city development department.

Riga Vice Mayor Linda Ozola (New Conservative Party) said that corruption prevention system in the city has been reorganized to identification of corruption cases. 

Ozola said that the video surveillance system in the city has been expanded, placing more video cameras.

Vice Mayor Edvards Smiltens (National Alliance/Latvian Association of Regions) said that strategic cooperation and development directions have been marked and work on cooperation projects to attract funds from ERRF has been started.

The capital's cooperation with Pieriga municipalities has been resumed, and a cooperation platform Riga Metropolis has been established, joining 15 municipalities with EUR 886,182 residents.