August 27 (SeeNews) - Romania's Ilfov county council said on Tuesday it is inviting bids in a 4.43 million lei ($1.03 million/936,139 euro) tender for preparing the technical project for construction of Magurele Science Park.
The deadline for submission of bids is September 30, Ilfov county council said in a press release.
The contract will be awarded to the candidate who has offered the best value for money. Bidders must prove that they have at least three years of experience in similar projects.
After the technical project has been drafted, the county council will award the contract for construction works.
"We estimate that the construction of the science park will start in the autumn of next year. The duration of the works is three years," the county council said.
Ilfov county council, Horia Hulubei National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering (IFIN-HH) and Magurele Municipality signed the joint venture contract for Magurele Science Park in December last year. The project's mission is to develop the innovative economy by supporting the marketing of research, development and spin-off results from universities and research institutes, and participating in creating relevant culture in this field, as well as capitalizing on the presence of the Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP) project in the adjacent area of the science park, according to information published on the project's website.
Magurele Science Park will be developed in three phases.
The first phase will consist of the planning the construction of the park on an area of 5.5 hectares, with the investment exceeding 36 million euro ($40 million). During the first phase, the following parts will be built: Center of Technology Transfer, Innovation Center, Museum of the Future and Recreation Center. The second phase is intended at progressively expanding the park up to 20 hectares within five years. During the third phase, the science park's area will be expanded to 30 hectares.
The ELI-NP project required a 320 million euro ($361 million) investment co-funded by the European Commission and the Romanian government. Under the project, researchers have developed a laser which in March reached a record power capability of 10 petawatts. One petawatt is equal to one million gigawatts of power.
The Magurele laser is one of the three branches of the ELI-NP project, with the other two set to be installed in the Czech Republic and Hungary. The total volume of investments exceeds 850 million euro and will be provided from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The laser will enable research in the medical, pharmaceutical and aerospace fields.
(1 euro=4.7322 lei)