The contract for the second drive for the Karavanke tunnel connecting Slovenia with Austria is now once more being tendered. The project was awarded earlier this year to the Turkish contractor, Cengiz Insaat Sanayi Ve Ticaret. However this deal was then annulled and the firm prevented from reapplying. The Turkish company had submitted a bid of €89.3 million for the work. However this had to be rejected as the actual estimate to build the link sets a pricetag of some €121.5 million. The Slovenian road operator DARS is now having to choose from the remaining bidders in the original tender offering.
The legal challenge was launched against the tender award by two bidders that were unsuccessful for the project, Kolektor CPG and Euro-Asfalt. The 7.8km-long tunnel route runs under the Alpine Karawanks/Karavanke mountain range, connecting the Austrian Autobahn A11 from Villach with the A2 highway, running across the border to the Slovenian cities of Kranj and Ljubljana.
How many of the original firms bidding for the work are reapplying is unclear and it has not been revealed if those reapplying will make the same offers as before.
In the bidding process earlier this year, a bid of €140 million came from a partnership made up of Slovenian firm Pomgrad and Swiss company Marti. A partnership comprising Implenia Österreich, Implenia Switzerland and Slovenian firm CGP Novo Mesto made a bid of €114.8 million, while a partnership between Slovenian company Gorenjska Gradbena Družba and Czech contractor Metrostav made a bid of €104.4 million. The Slovenian firm GH Holding partnered with Hochtief to bid €118.6 million, meanwhile Slovenian contractor Kolektor CGP partnered with Riko and the Turkish contractor Yapi Merkezijem with a bid of €109.4 million. The Bosnian firm Euroasfalt and the Slovenian company Cestno Podjetje Ptuj bid €106.3 million, meanwhile the Greek contractor J&P Avax offered a bid of €115 million. The Italian contractor Astaldi set up a partnership with the Slovenian companies Cipa and GIC Gradnje and these firms jointly made a bid of €117.5 million. Completed in 1991, the link suffers heavy congestion at present with traffic
delays frequent at peak periods and during the holiday season.
