Thr Metro Line 4 tender is ready to move forward

After more than 3 years in the tender for the construction of the first phase of Line 4 of the Athens Metro from Veikos Grove to Goudi, there are major developments for its completion. According to secure information, yesterday, the last day for filing an appeal (for precautionary measures) to the Council of State, neither of the two consortia appeared which means that the tender will continue.

What does this mean for the project? Since the trial scheduled for today of the main appeals of the two finalists, moved to January 26, 2021, (with some footnotes Attiko Metro can proceed to the final phase of the tender process which is the opening of tenders. This will follow the legal examination of what is being done despite waiting for the appeals to be heard. It is very important to see, if eventually one or both consortia will withdraw their filed appeals to the CoC.

However, it is the first time in the three-year competition, that in a move of Attiko Metro, there were no appeals from participants, something that obviously brings smiles and restrained optimism for the future. If those who say that this “dribble” releases the tender are verified, after a while there will be an announcement by Attiko Metro, that the 2nd phase regarding the evaluation of the technical bids has been completed, setting at the same time the opening day of the financial bids for the project. There the bidder will be revealed in order to proceed with the nomination of the contractor of this big project.

Cautious optimism

This development clearly justifies the choice of the government and the Ministry of Infrastructure to support the continuation and completion of the tender that will lead to the implementation of the largest public project in the country. A project that highly expected by the construction industry since it will offer thousands of jobs but also will “boost” dozens if not hundreds of contracts.

The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Costas Karamanlis, had announced the continuation of the tender for Metro Line 4 two weeks ago, setting a condition that the endless legal disputes would not continue. However, the ministry keeps a low profile on the issue, but it is clear that something has changed in relation to the sense of full involvement that existed until recently.

A big goal is of course the announcement of the bidder and the beginning of the pre-contractual period. If the process is unblocked, Attiko Metro will have to announce the bidding consortium as a temporary contractor. Then the contract will be sent to the Court of Auditors, presented to the Greek Parliament and finally the agreement will be signed.

The green light for the big project of Line 4 will of course lead to contracting and the competition for the preliminary works with ERETVO being the contractor company. At the same time, the competition for the independent engineer who will supervise the project will run again from Attiko Metro. The main projects are in no way expected to start earlier than 2023.

A “colossal” project for the country

The colossal project for Line 4 of the Athens Metro concerns the construction of a new underground line 12.9 km long and 15 stations that will cover densely populated areas of the Municipality of Athens, Galatsi, Vyronas and Zografou. The cost reaches 1.8 billion euros (VAT included, amount without VAT 1.45 billion euros).

The tender process started on August 10, 2017 with the submission of the expression of interest (pre-selection phase). In this phase appeared 4 schemes: TERNA SA- VINCI-SIEMENS AG “TVS”, AVAX SA- GHELLA SpA –ALSTOM TRANSPORT S.A., AKTOR ATE – ANSALDO STP S.p.A – HITACHI RAIL ITALY SPA and FCC – ARCHIRO.