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Weekly Lists
April 7, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 21
bne:
Infrastructure
Bulgaria cancels tender for construction of €128mn tunnel
Consortium of local contractors seals deal for Slovak motorway section
The state Road Infrastructure Agency has terminated a tender for the design and construction of the Zheleznitsa tunnel, part of Struma motorway in western Bulgaria, a notice on the agency’s website said on April 6. The indicative value of the project is BGN250mn (€127.8mn, VAT not included). 17 candidates are competing for the project.
The tender was cancelled because on March 31 the agency found that part of the offer from one of the tender participants was missing. Subsequently, some of the documents were found at the home of an external assessor who is a member of the tender commission, Capital Daily reported.
The D1 Presov Consortium signed a deal with Slovakia on April 6 to build a section of the D1 motorway.
The contract handed down by the National Highway Company (NDS) will see the Czech and Slovak units of Eurovia and Metrostav team up with Doprastav to complete the €356mn project to build 8km of the major artery. A massive roadbuilding programme is forecast to help boost Slovak GDP growth this year, boosting confidence in the battered construction sector.
However, Bratislava has also been harshly criticized for some of the deals it has signed, while also facing scandals connected to the segment in recent years. The Supreme Audit Office (NKU) slammed the NDS on March 27 for poor handling and a lack of transparency on another section of the D1.
Slovak construction companies are confident the sector will return to growth this year, a report released by CEEC Research on March 31 showed.
The optimism is good news for the economy as a whole. The 10.7% slump into which construction dropped in 2016 was largely driven by a lull in investment, mostly due to a sharp drop in EU-funded public projects.
A rise in activity amongst builders would suggest something of a turnaround for investment. Slovak GDP is expected to gain from major road projects carried out this year.
Slovak construction companies confident of return to growth