Athens Metro Line 4: the AVAX SA – GHELLA – ALSTOM consortium is the lowest bidder for the 1,8 bln euro contract

The AVAX SA – GHELLA – ALSTOM consortium  is the big winner of the process of unsealing the financial offers for the new Line 4 of the Athens Metro. Today at 2 pm, in the offices of Attiko Metro, the Competition Committee was presented by only one representative of the two contenders.

There the bids were opened, in which the consortium led by AVAX offered the best reduced price which is calculated at 1,158 billion euros (approximately 12%). In fact, the market has foreseen the result of the tender in the past, and is now being confirmed. The consortium is leading the race to take over the “golden” contract of 1.8 billion euros, the largest public project of all time, which is co-financed by the NSRF 2014-2020.

The big loser is the AKTOR ATE – ANSALDO– HITACHI consortium, which offered an amount of 1,180 billion euros (approximately 10.5-11, while for a long time, according to sources, it had been preparing for the scenario of losing of this great project. The question is whether there will be any follow-up with objections or appeals until we reach the signatures.

The next steps

Onwards the committee will have to prepare the minutes of the competition, which will be certified by the Board of Attiko Metro, giving entity to the sponsorship of the project. According to the law, there will be a ten-day period in which objections can be filed. After this period, the temporary contractor will be announced. The bidder will then be called to show the required supporting documents for the undertaking of the project, including the letter of guarantee of good participation.

The construction contract will head towards the Court of Auditors and the penultimate step is to send it to the Parliament where its solemn presentation will take place ( as is usually done for all projects that are characterized as “big “). The big day will be the day of the signing of the project, between Attiko Metro and the contractor.

This is clearly a justification of the government’s choice to save the tender, of the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Costas Karamanlis, who maintained and proceeded with a tender, that was characterized as “dead” by many, and of Attiko Metro, which was able to carry out a mission that was deemed to be “impossible”.

The history of the project

On April 10, 2017, Attiko Metro, 12 years after the first announcement for the implementation of a new Metro line, announces the auction of the 4th Metro Line. Initially, the competition was to start on June 1, but with two extensions, we reached August 10, 2017, when 4 strong teams are showing interest.

1. TERNA SA- VINCI-SIEMENS AG “TVS”
2. AVAX SA- GHELLA SpA – ALSTOM TRANSPORT S.A.
3. ΑΚΤΩΡ ΑΤΕ – ANSALDO STP S.p.A – HITACHI RAIL ITALY SPA
4. FCC – ARCHIRODON-MYTILINEOS

Almost immediately, objections filed from both sides between the interested parties and from this process the FCC – ARCHIRODON-MYTILINEOS scheme was excluded. This was followed by a rain of objections and appeals to the SC and finally we reached the 15th March 2019 where the second phase of the competition took place. During that period the TERNA SA-VINCI-SIEMENS scheme left at the last moment. In the technical offer, the consortium led by AVAX took the lead, but this was of little importance as the tender was “bidding”, i.e. the project is undertaken by the contender that in the final stage will give the biggest discount.

Entering the most critical phase of the tender, two consortia remained in the race to claim the project, AVAX SA- GHELLA SpA – ALSTOM TRANSPORT and AKTOR ATE – ANSALDO STP SpA – HITACHI RAIL ITALY SPA, while appeals were lodged to the CoC by TERNA and Mytilineos. The latter two were rejected, but in the hearing of the appeals of the two claimants, the objections of both concerning the minutes of the evaluation of the technical bids were accepted.

This results in the contest were blocked and threatened with cancellation. Especially in the case that the main appeals were accepted in the second and crucial trial of the CoC. Throughout this process, the government and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport had many opportunities to cancel and re-auction the project, but with an obviously political decision, it was decided to proceed with the tender by all means and complete it.

Seeking the solution, Attiko Metro proceeded to re-evaluate the minutes and about a month ago sent it to the Council of State. There were no objections to the new minutes and the way to complete the competition was open again. A few days later, the two appeals of the two groups claiming the project were withdrawn and so we arrived at today ‘s historic day for the project.

The new “orange” Metro Line of Athens

The new Line 4 VEIKOU-GOUDI Grove will cover mainly densely populated areas of the Municipality of Athens (9 stations) and the surrounding Municipalities. It will start from the Veikos Grove in Galatsi and -passing through Kypseli, Gyzi, Exarchia, Kolonaki, Ilisia and Zografou- it will end at Goudi. It will have a length of 12.9 km and will include 15 underground stations. The contract also includes the supply of 18 super-automatic trains that will run without a driver.

The response Stations will be: Akadimias (with f. University-Line 2) and Evangelismos (with Line 3). In Akadimias there will be an underground passage that will connect Line 4 with Line 2. For the construction will be used 2 tunnel boring machines (one at each end) to shorten the drilling time, while there is a provision for a third if deemed necessary.

Line 4 will be built with more modern features. There will be a two-way tunnel, all stations will be sideways, but will have super-automatic trains that will move without a driver but with an attendant while there will be security doors at the docks which will open only when the train will have arrived and will have stopped.

The following stations will be constructed:

1. Veikos Grove Station, Intersection of Veiko and Traleon,
2. Galatsi Station, Intersection of Galatsi and Veikos,
3. Elikonos Station,
4. Kypseli Station, Kypseli Square,
5. Courts Station, Crossroads of Guards and Mustoxides,
6.Alexandra Station, Intersection of Alexandra and Moustoxydi,
7.Exarchia Station, Exarcheia Square,
8. Academy Station, Academy Crossroads and Sinai,
9.Kolonaki Station, Kolonaki Square,
10. Evangelismos Station, Crossroads of Vas. Sofias, Rizari and Vas. Konstantinou,
11. Kaisariani Station, Ymittos Intersection and Ethn. Resistance,
12. Campus Station, Ethn. Resistance,
13.Ilisia Station, Cyprus Square,
14. Zografou Station, Gardenia Square, 15. Goudi Station, Eleftherias Square.
15. Goudi Station, Eleftherias Square