Formal complaints and appeals delay tender for one of the largest infrastructure projects in Croatia.
On Friday, another formal complaint was filed regarding tender documents for the construction of the Pelješac Bridge, which means that the whole process has once again been stopped until the complaint is considered, reports Večernji List on October 10, 2016.
This is the third complaint regarding the tender for the construction of the Pelješac Bridge, which was published on 21 June. The original deadline for submission of bids was 22 August, but because of two complaints filed in early July by Vijadukt from Zagreb and a Chinese company, the tender procedure was halted for nearly two months, waiting for the State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement Procedures to rule on those complaints.
Vijadukt’s appeal was rejected, while the Chinese one was accepted, so Croatian Roads public company had to change part of the tender documents. Therefore, the deadline for submission of bids was extended to 17 October. However, ten days before that deadline, a new complaint was filed which is why the deadline for submission of bids has been extended once again.
Given that the tender procedure is in progress, it is officially impossible to find out who filed the complaint, but unofficial sources claim that it was Snaga Vjetra company from Split. It is a company registered for trade, tourism and services, which last year had revenues of just 468,000 kuna, and posted a loss of 1.1 million kuna. It is probable that the company is just being used as a front for some major construction company which wants to get more time to prepare its offer for the Pelješac Bridge. Managing director of Snaga Vjetra Željko Bilić was unavailable for comment.
It was originally planned that the selection process would be completed by the end of this year and that the construction works could begin early next year. However, it is clear that the deadlines will not be met, since this is just the first phase of the tender in which prospective contractors must prove their legal, financial and technical capacity to implement the project with estimated value of 1.756 billion kuna. Those who prove they can implement the project will progress to the second round. In the best case scenario, the second round probably cannot be completed before second half of 2017.
Due to the high value of the contract, great interest of foreign and Croatian companies is expected. Rumours claim that one offer will be sent jointly by Vijadukt and French company Bouygues, while GP Krk is allegedly preparing a bid together with a Greek construction company.
Croatian Roads have changed the conditions of the tender to make them less strict, since initially only two or three companies in the world could meet them. The goal was to attract more companies to send their offers.
The bridge is intended to connect the Croatian peninsula of Pelješac, and through it the southernmost part of Croatia including Dubrovnik, with the Croatian mainland, while avoiding crossing Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Neum Corridor. It would span the part of the Adriatic Sea which separates the two near the Bay of Mali Ston and the Neretva Channel.
