Road Infrastructure National Agency (RINA)will probably prepare new tenders for segments Nova Zagora - Stara Zagora and Nova Zagora - Yambol form "Trakia" highway, Mediapool reported based on information from the management of administration.

In the end of December Directorate General Internal Market and Services of EC requested that the tenders for contractors on lots 2 and 3 be closed because of "indications for possible breaches of Community law in the procedures of commissioning of the projects". Thus yat another attempt to finish the construction of the highway from the past 10-12 years, this time with state funding, was dashed.

The best case scenario is that the choice of a contractor for "Trakia" Highway is delayed with one and a half months. If RINA manages to prove to DG Internal Market and Services of the EC that the criteria for choosing contractors are in line with the competition laws in the Community, the tender committees would be able to announce the results of the competition for contractors of Lots 2 and 3 of the motorway.

There is a chance that the management of the Agency requests a personal meeting with EC representatives in Brussels in order for both sides to clarify those public procurement procedures which are raising discussions.

If the EC officials decide that the procedure for conducting the tenders restricts fair competition, they will have to be repeated and this would take at least 3 to 4 months.

The issue with the old tenders is the requirement for the applicants to have available a construction materials quarry and an asphalt mixing plant within a given distance from the road which can be either their own or rented. This particular requirement was the reason for complaints by companies willing to participate in the tender for the costly public procurement.

It is most likely that the complaint was filed by one of the foreign companies that took part in the tender. Those are the Turkish Doğuş İnşaat ve Ticaret Plc. and Onur, the Greek Aktor, the Croatian Constructor Engineering and the Austrian Alpine Bau and Schtrabag. According to Ivan Boikov, head of Bulgarian Construction Chamber, Doğuş, Constructor Engineering and Schtarbag do not meet the criteria for contractors of the project and should drop out of the stopped tenders.

RINA would most likely have to make ready for new tender procedures for the "historical" completion of the Sofia-Burgas highway. The requirement for construction materials quarry and asphalt mixing plant will still be in force although at a longer distance from the route, officials from RINA clarified.

In its letter stopping the tenders, EC reports that it is necessary for the applicant companies for "Trakia" to have the capacity of implementing the construction but without for the requirements to breach the fair competition rules, RINA representatives explained.

Next week RINA supervisory board will have to approve the new methodology for conducting the competitions for public procedures as well as the new standardized contracts for the contractors. This will allow the administration to begin the tender for the construction of lot 4 of "Trakia", the segment from Yambol to Karnobat by the end of the month.