Austrian Constructor Appeals Bulgaria 'Trakiya' Highway Bid

Austrian Road construction group 'Strabag' have complained to Bulgaria's anti-monopoly body, concerning the bidding procedure for the Trakyia Highway project, from which their own bid was excluded. Photo by BGNES

Austrian road construction consortium "Strabag" has lodged a complaint with Bulgaria’s Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC).

The target of the complaint is the National Road Infrastructure Agency, the CPC has announced on Friday, and concerns the recent bidding procedure for construction of a new section of the "Trakiya" highway. "Strabag" consortium’s bid was one of four excluded from the process, for unspecified reasons.

The Austrian company is now seeking to have the announced award - to "Unified Highway Trace", a Bulgarian consortium - annulled.

CPC has not yet initiated proceedings on the appeal, it announced on Friday, because it is waiting for the mandatory statutory deadline for correction of any irregularities in the documentation of the applicant.

The lead partner in the winning consortium is "Bulgarian Trace Group Hold", owned by businessman Nikolay Mihaylov. Subsidiaries include "PSI", "SK13 Holding", "Viastroy Engineering" and "Road Construction - Dobrich".

The group's proposed cost for the project was almost three times lower than the highest offer received, at EUR 2,2 M per kilometer, while in 2005-2007 it had built the section from Orizovo to Stara Zagora for EUR 2,4 M per km.

The Lot 2 budget set by the construction ministry for the 32-km section from Stara Zagora to Nova Zagora was EUR 3 M per km.

Because of the low price submitted, the company will be asked for additional justification, said chairman of the selection committee Dimitar Margaritov. He predicted that the committee would issue a final decision on the confirmed winner within three weeks.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!