Skip to main content

Slovenia tunnel contract reselection

The contract for the second drive for the Karavanke tunnel connecting Slovenia with Austria is now once more being tendered. The project was awarded earlier this year to the Turkish contractor, Cengiz Insaat Sanayi Ve Ticaret. However this deal was then annulled and the firm prevented from reapplying. The Turkish company had submitted a bid of €89.3 million for the work. However this had to be rejected as the actual estimate to build the link sets a pricetag of some €121.5 million. The Slovenian road opera
December 6, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

The contract for the second drive for the Karavanke tunnel connecting Slovenia with Austria  is now once more being tendered. The project was awarded earlier this year to the Turkish contractor, 4144 Cengiz Insaat Sanayi Ve Ticaret. However this deal was then annulled and the firm prevented from reapplying. The Turkish company had submitted a bid of €89.3 million for the work. However this had to be rejected as the actual estimate to build the link sets a pricetag of some €121.5 million. The Slovenian road operator DARS is now having to choose from the remaining bidders in the original tender offering.

The legal challenge was launched against the tender award by two bidders that were unsuccessful for the project, Kolektor CPG and Euro-Asfalt. The 7.8km-long tunnel route runs under the Alpine Karawanks/Karavanke mountain range, connecting the Austrian Autobahn A11 from Villach with the A2 highway, running across the border to the Slovenian cities of Kranj and Ljubljana.

How many of the original firms bidding for the work are reapplying is unclear and it has not been revealed if those reapplying will make the same offers as before.

In the bidding process earlier this year, a bid of €140 million came from a partnership made up of Slovenian firm Pomgrad and Swiss company Marti. A partnership comprising Implenia Österreich, Implenia Switzerland and Slovenian firm CGP Novo Mesto made a bid of €114.8 million, while a partnership between Slovenian company Gorenjska Gradbena Družba and Czech contractor Metrostav made a bid of €104.4 million. The Slovenian firm GH Holding partnered with Hochtief to bid €118.6 million, meanwhile Slovenian contractor Kolektor CGP partnered with Riko and the Turkish contractor Yapi Merkezijem with a bid of €109.4 million. The Bosnian firm Euroasfalt and the Slovenian company Cestno Podjetje Ptuj bid €106.3 million, meanwhile the Greek contractor J&P Avax offered a bid of €115 million. The Italian contractor Astaldi set up a partnership with the Slovenian companies Cipa and GIC Gradnje and these firms jointly made a bid of €117.5 million.  Completed in 1991, the link suffers heavy congestion at present with traffic
delays frequent at peak periods and during the holiday season.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • ASECAP: Cooperation needed for better toll-road risk management
    May 31, 2017
    Toll operators must offer a level of service for which drivers are prepared to pay because in many cases, drivers have alternative free-use routes. Incentives to attract drivers onto toll roads must include shorter and reliable journey times as well smooth and trouble free travel – all at an affordable price. Private companies running toll roads face the same difficulties as any other commercial entity, in particular financing construction before any toll revenue can be collected. Hardly surprising that fin
  • Canada: National Bank and Axium refinance Sea-to-Sky Highway
    July 19, 2016
    National Bank Financial and Axium Infrastructure have refinanced the Sea-to-Sky Highway Improvement Project in the Canadian province of British Columbia. A statement from Axium said that the US$427 million 25-year public-private-partnership had “strong investor support and an A2 rating from Moody’s”. The Sea-to-Sky Highway Investment Limited Partnership - Axium Infrastructure, Régime de Rentes du Mouvement Desjardins and Nova Scotia Pension Agency - is the consortium in charge of the concession. In
  • Increased infrastructure spending
    February 22, 2012
    With economies booming in the BRIC countries and other regions, spending on infrastructure is at a high - Patrick Smith reports As economic crisis grips much of the world, many countries are still spending billions on infrastructure to improve transportation. While the USA and Europe struggle with debt problems (and this has affected much of the rest of the world) the development of highways, airport, ports and other infrastructure is gathering pace in other regions to boost economic developments.
  • Vinci wins stalled Strasbourg Grand Contournement Ouest deal
    November 12, 2015
    French construction group Vinci has been named preferred bidder for construction and operation of the previously canceled western motorway bypass in Strasbourg, northeastern France. Vinci will lead a consortium for the project estimated to need €475 million. The contract will be signed next year with construction to start in 2017, according to a report in the French newspaper Dernieres Nouvelles d’Alsace