September 6 (SeeNews) - Croatian motorway company Hrvatske Autoceste (HAC) has cancelled a 380 million kuna ($56.7 million/51.3 million euro) tender for the construction of a 17.5 km section of European transport Corridor Vc, local media reported on Friday.
The tender was cancelled on Thursday after the supervisory board of state-owned HAC failed to confirm the management's choice of Bosnian company Integral Inzenjering as the best bidder, while in the meantime Integral Inzenjering's warranty for the job had expired and the company had refused to extend it, news daily Jutarnji List reported, quoting unnamed sources close to HAC.
Earlier, HAC selected the 359 million kuna offer of Integral Inzenjering as the best bid for the construction of the motorway section between the town of Beli Manastir and Halasica Bridge.
The other bidders in the tender were China's Sinohydro Corporation, offering 416 million kuna, and a consortium of local firms led by Osijek-Koteks with a 446 million kuna offer. Their proposals, however, were higher than the estimated value of construction works.
According to earlier media reports, it took HAC four months to select in early August the offer of Integral Inzenjering as the best one. In the meantime, HAC had asked twice all three bidders to extend the validity of their bids and provide a new warranty of the seriousness of their offers.
However, the second time the extensions were requested, it were only Sinohydro and the consortium led by Osijek-Koteks who sent the requested documents, while Integral Inzenjering refused to do so.
According to Jutarnji, HAC could open a new tender for the project within 30 days after the tender cancellation decision takes effect.
According to the initial plan, the motorway section was due to be completed in 2020, the report said.
The EBRD said in July it is considering extending a loan of up to 52 million euro to HAC to finance the construction of the Corridor Vc's section in the country. The sovereign guaranteed loan will consist of two tranches, the first of which is of up to 35 million euro and will finance the construction of the 17.5 km section between Beli Manastir and Halasica Bridge, while the second tranche of up to 17 million euro will finance the construction of the 5 km motorway section between the town of Beli Manastir and the border with Hungary.
The two sections are the last remaining unfinished stretches of Corridor Vc on Croatian territory. The Croatian section of the corridor is some 90 km long.
Corridor Vc is part of the Western Balkans Core Network. It has been established as an extension of the Trans-European Transport Networks and will eventually link the Hungarian capital Budapest to the Croatian Adriatic port of Ploce via Bosnia.
(1 euro = 7.40511 kuna)