The company “EIKA Construction”, which is implementing the first stage of construction at the training ground, presented the students with the construction work already completed here and shared its experience in implementing large-scale projects. The opportunity to see the construction site of the military training ground with their own eyes was given to 25 students of the Department of Civil Engineering of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VILNIUS TECH).
An extraordinary opportunity to see the future training ground
A total of 25 third- and fourth-year civil engineering students from VILNIUS TECH University visited the special excursion held last week, to which Almantas Čebanauskas, the head of EIKA Construction, presented the work already completed and told them about the further stages of construction of the military training ground.
“The Rūdninkai Military Campus is the largest military infrastructure project in independent Lithuania, so I believe that such an acquaintance is an invaluable experience for future construction engineers. We pay great attention to the younger generation, so we constantly not only openly talk about our activities, but also provide conditions for students to do internships. Currently, 8 students work in our company, and one is doing an internship, we see great meaning and mutual benefit in this in training future professionals,” says A. Čebanauskas.
In the second part of the tour, students also had the opportunity to get acquainted with other EIKA Construction projects, and the company’s specialists, who had once been in the students’ shoes, shared their stories, steps for planning a purposeful professional path, and career opportunities.
“We are very happy about this truly extraordinary opportunity. Learning theory is one thing, but seeing real-scale engineering processes with our own eyes is quite another. The whole day left a very strong impression on our students and provided additional motivation to strive for professional development. We returned inspired and full of new ideas,” says Assoc. Prof. Dr. Loreta Kanapeckienė, Vice-Dean for Studies at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at VILNIUS TECH.
A project of impressive size
The decision to restore the Rūdninkai military training ground, which operated in the Šalčininkai district during the Soviet era, was adopted by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania in 2021, and two years later, after Germany committed to deploying a brigade-sized military unit in Lithuania, it was decided that the Rūdninkai military town would become the main place of service for German soldiers in our country.
In August 2024, after signing the contract for the first phase of the polygon, the project was entrusted to the contractor EIKA Construction. The entire territory of the Rūdninkai military town will cover an area of 200 hectares, and during the first phase, about 40 hectares will be built up, which will include 19 buildings divided into administrative, residential and transport zones.
The value of the first phase of the works will reach 125 million euros, and during it dormitories, warehouses, shelters, garages, headquarters, canteens, security and administrative buildings are being built. Ten four-story residential buildings under construction will have 200 apartments each, and over 2 thousand soldiers will live here.