Draft budget for the Ministry of Transport and Communications and its administrative branch for 2025

The Ministry of Transport and Communications proposes that EUR 3.57 billion be allocated to its administrative branch for 2025. 

It is proposed that around EUR 2.0 billion be allocated to the transport and communications networks, around EUR 854 million to transport and communication services and around EUR 709 million to administration and joint expenditure for the administrative branch. A majority of the appropriations proposed for transport and communications networks, approximately EUR 1.48 billion, would be allocated to the basic transport infrastructure management of roads, railways and waterways.

Repair debt of the transport network to be reduced, the Digirail project to proceed

•    To promote growth, the Government is committed to a transport investment programme of nearly three billion euros. In its proposal, the Ministry of Transport and Communications stresses the importance of repairing and developing the transport infrastructure across Finland and of taking long-term measures to reduce the growth of the repair debt. The Ministry proposes that EUR 200 million be allocated for reducing the repair backlog in 2025.

•    A budget authority of EUR 1.115 billion and an appropriation of EUR 9 million are proposed for implementing the Digirail project. The proposed authority and appropriation concern the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency’s part of the project’s implementation stage. The Digirail project aims for safe and efficient rail traffic on Finnish railways by modernising the railway systems and upgrading the train control to be in line with the European system.

•    Decisions on the transport network development projects will be made in the government budget session.

Finland’s comprehensive security to be strengthened

•    The Ministry of Transport and Communications proposes that EUR 286,000 be allocated for the establishment of a space situational awareness centre. The centre would contribute to Finland’s goals in comprehensive security, such as national resilience, maintenance of the critical infrastructure, security of supply and cyber security.

•    Cyber security will be improved through services provided by the Transport and Communications Agency. An allocation of EUR 2 million is proposed for the provision of a service called Hyöky, which would map attack surface points, and of a lighter cyber threat detection and warning service Havaro. The Hyöky service helps municipalities and other public administration organisations to protect themselves against attacks in information networks. The Havaro service detects and warns against serious information security threats to Finnish companies. The information obtained from the services will be used to provide a national situation picture in cyber security.

•    As a result of the Critical Entities Resilience Directive, an allocation of EUR 800,000 is proposed for new official duties.

Consideration of the draft budget to continue in September

The Government will discuss the draft budget in its budget session on 3–4 September 2024. The Ministry of Finance will then finalise the Government’s budget proposal, which will be submitted to Parliament on 23 September. Parliament will approve the budget in December.

Inquiries:

Jyrki Tanskanen, Ministerial Adviser, tel. +358 29 534 2093, [email protected]