Indrė Milinienė, a spokeswoman for Klaipėdos Nafta, the developer of the LNG terminal project, told BNS that the Lithuanian Geological Service last Tuesday issued a permit for engineering-geological and geotechnical tests of the poles.
"Pole tests are necessary for such structures, and the Geological Service's permit for this has already been obtained. The testing must be done before applying for a building permit," she said.
Daiva Viktorija Grimalienė, the head of the Building Permits Subdivision at Klaipėda city's local authority, told BNS earlier in the day that if the necessary documents were submitted this week, the building permit would be issued sometime around mid-October.
At Klaipėdos Nafta's request, the authorities have so far only issued a permit to build a temporary access road and a temporary construction site, she said.
The central government's press office said on Thursday that the building permit was expected to be issued in the near future, with the installation of piles for the jetty to be launched as soon as mid-September.
The contract with BMGS for the engineering and construction of the jetty is worth 113.6 million litas (EUR 33m), including VAT. The Latvian company has until August 10, 2014, to build the jetty at the FSRU mooring site.
The LNG terminal project consists of three parts, including the jetty, a floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) that is being built in Korea, and a gas pipeline linking the facility to the country's grid.