Tender appeals filed by the contenders for Athens Metro Line 4 project

In spite of the tender for the new Athens Metro Line 4, going forward, “hurdles” will definitely show up during the process. According to information, all candidates have filed pre-trial οbjections, resulting, for the time being, at the procedure’s deceleration.

According to the same sources, an Attiko Metro committee will be called to assess these appeals and decide. In the event of a negative decision by the committee, the tender will continue to the next phase, but the contenders will maintain their possibility to lodge an injuction, sending the case to the Council of State for a definite verdict.

This, however, is quite likely, as all bidders want to disqualify some of their opponents in order to increase their chances of acquiring the 1.8bn-euro “golden” contract (VAT included), which is the   staggering construction cost for the new Athens Metro Line 4.

If everything progresses smoothly, then, by Easter, we expect to enter the second phase of the tender with the submission of all technical and financial offers, a long process that will take several months to go through.

After that, the opening of the financial offers will folllow, out of which, the “golden” contractor will emerge. New Athens Metro Line 4 construction works are not expected to start before 2020 and, even without any legal impediments, it will take several months for the contract to be approved by the Court of Auditors and its presentation and ratification by the Greek Parliament which will finally lead to the activation of the contract, with an initial duration of 86 months.

Nikos Karagiannis-ypodomes.com

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