Ljubljana/Jesenice, 04 June (STA) - The Infrastructure Agency has picked construction company Riko for the upgrade of the railway junction in Jesenice, shows data on the public procurement portal. The project will be carried out for just under EUR 146 million with tax. Riko was the only bidder in a repeated call for applications.
A previous call earlier this year was cancelled after bids significantly exceeded the available budget, despite the project's official estimated value having already increased substantially.
In line with the subsequent new call, published in mid-April, the maximum possible value of bids was set at some EUR 120.7 million without VAT or EUR 147.2 million with tax, so Riko's bid was acceptable.
The upgrade of the railway station and its associated rail hub is to include upgrading the tracks, new platform infrastructure and renovation of two existing platforms, as well as the extension of the underpass, which in addition to providing access to the platform infrastructure will also connect the centre of Jesenice and the hockey centre Podmežakla, and enable safe pedestrian passage between the north and south sides of the town.
The project also includes the renovation of the existing underpass for cars, the signalling, telecommunications and electricity installations, the construction of a new portable substation, the renovation of the lobby, toilets and the facade of the train station building, the lighting and parking in the area, and the construction of a new bridge over the Jesenica stream.
The European Commission has approved EUR 56.6 million in funding from the Connecting Europe Facility for the project.
This is the second public procurement for what is the third largest project on the Slovenian rail network, after the construction of the Koper-Divača railway track and the upgrade of the Ljubljana central railway station.
The investment, which was first announced at the end of 2023, has raised dust because its price tag ballooned from the original estimates of EUR 81 million to EUR 137 million.
Three bidders applied to the first call, with Riko offering to carry out the upgrade for EUR 170 million with VAT, Croatian Kufner Grupa and Remont Pruga Matić submitting a joint bid of EUR 176 million and Voc Celje estimating the costs at EUR 179 million.
Due to the high price tags, the Infrastructure Ministry ordered a review, which showed that the project is needed and justified and that the bids match the market prices.
The Infrastructure Agency subsequently picked Riko as the only bidder meeting all the other conditions, and started negotiations, but no deal was reached as the final price with VAT reached almost EUR 164 million, which exceeded the budget for the project.
According to web portal Info360, the Infrastructure Agency managed to bring the price down in the second call by reducing the value of unforeseen works and excluding two stations - Hrušica in Plavž - from the project, which the municipality of Jesenice finds unacceptable.
