Construction of Rail Line Connecting Bulgaria's Plovdiv, Burgas Stalls

Business | July 30, 2013, Tuesday // 18:34
Bulgaria: Construction of Rail Line Connecting Bulgaria's Plovdiv, Burgas Stalls Photo by burgas.bg

The implementation of the project for the construction of the rail line connecting the Bulgarian cities of Plovdiv and Burgas by end-2015 has become uncertain due to a revoked tender for the selection of a contractor for five traction substations.

Milcho Lambrev, CEO of the state-owned National Railway Infrastructure Company (NRIC), vowed that the decision of the Commission for Protection of Competition (KZK) would be appealed before the Supreme Administrative Court (VAS).

Lambrev, as cited by mediapool.bg, explained that the construction of the Plovdiv-Burgas rail line was financed under the Operational Program "Transport, adding that the money earmarked for the project were to be absorbed by November 2015.

He emphasized that there was too little time left to hold a new public procurement procedure, adding that the substations for which no contracts had been signed by end-2013 would have to be built with money from the state budget.

On Monday, KZK revoked the selection of   the "VIEE"consortium as a contractor for the repair and overhaul of the five traction substations.

The consortium had won the tender with an offer of BGN 16 M, VAT excluded.

KZK noted that the consortium had failed to translate in Bulgarian some 3000 pages of documents contained in the bid, meaning that it did not match the criteria listed by the NRIC in the tender documentation.

KZK ruled that a new public procurement procedure had to be organized for the project.

Lambrev, however, argued that the untranslated 3000 pages were complementary documents to the bid.

The construction of the Plovdiv-Burgas rail line is carried out by the consortium GCF-SK-13-Trace Railinfra", and the consortium "Etakons-Vito Prato" is in charge of construction oversight.

The project is worth nearly BGN 478 M, of which the EU funding is over BGN 343 M.

So, far BGN 155 M in EU funding has been absorbed under the project, according to mediapool.bg.

The construction of the rail line has been subdivided into three lots.

The first section from the southern village of Mihaylovo to the village of Kaloyanovets is to be launched in a few weeks' time, according to Transport Minister Danail Papazov.

The section is 10.6km long and the total length of the rail line is 21 km.

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Tags: rail line, National Company Railway Infrastructure, Commission for Protection of Competition, KZK, tender, EU funding, operational program transport, Danail Papazov, Trakia highway

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