The long-awaited terminal of combined rail and road transport is not lucky. The Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) initiated in the recent days a procedure into the claim of SK-13 Transstroy against the decision of the National Company Railway Infrastructure, because the private company was removed from participation in the competition for the construction of the facility. Until the opening of the price bids in late May the entities allowed to take part were Trace Group that gave best value for money offer (11.3 million levs) and received the best technical evaluation; Greek Terna as well as the State Enterprise for Transport Construction and Modernisation.
The appeal puts this key railway project in an extremely delicate situation. The scheme under which it will be implemented is very complex and the construction itself (with money under the operational programme Transport) must be completed in 31 months. But when it may start, is not clear. There is high probability that the project will not be able to fit within the deadlines even according to the formula N +2 (the country can absorb money fixed for a given year under the programme up to two years later) automatically places it in risk.
The situation becomes even more twisted by the fact that the operator of the future intermodal terminal will be a private company. The National Company Railway Infrastructure hopes that the contract can be concluded and entered into force before the end of the work period, so that the operator can deliver and install the necessary equipment.
On the other hand, it is very questionable whether such a public-private partnership can ever be realized because the construction site will use EU funds. For this reason a few months ago former Transport Minister Ivaylo Moscovski stopped the concession procedures for the central railway station in the capital. The letting of Sofia Airport to private companies also slowed down because of the resources invested in the construction of Terminal 2 are actually European money and the Commission’s opinion on the case is requested.
Otherwise, the intermodal facility will be located near the station Todor Kableshkov which is part of the Plovdiv railway junction. Built on an area of 68,870 square meters it is envisaged to include a terminal for loading and unloading, site storage for containers, one for damaged containers and equipment, special places for refrigerated cargo, an administrative building for customer service, a building for customs control and customs warehouse as well as park lot for cars and trucks and a checkpoint. The access for the cars will be linked directly to the national road network without passing through settlements.
The BANKER
