In 1997 the road administration funded out of the budget was reorganised into a Non-profit State Joint-Stock Company "Latvian Road Administration",which concluded an agreement of delegation on the work to be performed and duties with the Minister of Transport. Such organisation of entrepreneurial activity type for administration of the road network at once acquired several advantages in comparison with various state institutions that manage the branches. In the new status the opportunity emerged to form a greater involvement of the employees in the results of their work, methods for solving the issues of operation changed, in some cases they became similarto those applied in the private business. The number of personnel, issuesof payment, and volume of resources became a matter to be determined by the Company itself. The holder of capital shares of the Joint Stock Companyis the State in the name of the Ministry of Transport. The reorganisationof 2004 retained the already established system and changed the status from the non-profit organisation to a profit-earning organisation, altering also the name to State Joint Stock Company "Latvian State Roads" (LSR). The Plan for Prospective Development Strategy is being worked out, which will substantially change the inner formation of the organisation, increase the role of regional management structures, balance the centralisation and decentralisation between the centre and regions, as well as prepare the organisation for the mastering of a 2-fold increase in funding for the roads. The LSR is an organisation oriented towards the client, where the clientis the Ministry of Transport on the one part and users of roads on the other part. The LSR administrates more than 20,000 km of state roads and receives payment for this work and provided services from the Ministry of Transport pursuant to the contract. Since 2003 the Quality Management System of the international standard EN ISO 9001:2000 has been implemented. The priority tasks of the Latvian State Roads are working towards objectives such as the modernisation of the main state roads, management of the co-financing means allocated from the EU funds for reconstruction of roads, as well as attracting new funding alternatives with public private partnerships. The short-term and long-term development programs of the state road network have been prepared and are being implemented. The most significant is the Development Program of Main Roads. Others: Program for Liquidation of "Black Spots" for improvement of traffic safety, Program for Development of Regional Roads, Program for Improvement of Gravel Roads. Already in the preparation stage a political support is obtained for the programs. In thefield of public relations the work is targeted at cooperation with the road users and municipalities. This includes informing the road users, receiving their proposals, assessment of the manager's work, press campaigns, public discussion of projects, inquiries and researches for finding-out of the public opinion. For the covering abstract see ITRD E139491.
Abstract