Government approves highway reshuffle

The government has approved FCC concessionaires’ request to sub-contract part of the work on the Horgos-Pozega highway. The government has today allowed Spanish company FCC’s to hand over part of the work to Austrian company PORR at today’s session, following a similar decision by the Economic and Financial Board yesterday, who accepted their proposal without any debate. Government approves highway reshuffle By withdrawing its start-up capital, FCC who won the tender for the concession has handed part of the work and the profits over to PORR, who finished second in the bidding. State Concessions representative Mihajlo Markovic told B92 that allowing FCC to pull out of the deal was permitted by the contract, and that moreover all the departmental boards within the ministries had given their approval for the move yesterday. The question arises whether the state could be liable for paying penalties to the other participants in the tender because of these new developments. “There has never been any danger, nor is there any chance of any damages being paid or any fines being incurred for bringing new companies into the consortium, come the end of the contractual process” said Markovic. He did not feel that the change in the consortium’s ownership structure contravened relations between the concessionaire and the state. Markovic claimed that the public had access to the complete documentation of the contract. FCC owns an 80 percent stake in Alpina who remain in the deal. Kostres: Kostunica should clear up uncertainty Vojvodina Assembly Speaker Bojan Kostres has called on Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica to clear up “all the confusion” linked to the Horgos-Pozega highway concessions. In an open letter to Kostunica and government members, Kostres asked for an explanation as to why the decision to include PORR within the consortium had taken so long, given that FCC had announced their withdrawal as far as back as June 27, 2007. He reminded the government that, in spite of promises to the contrary, the full text of the concessions contract - including annexes 3, 4, 5, 11 and 12 - had still not been made public. The Vojvodina speaker said that, under the terms of the contract, the deadline had now passed for the implementation of the second phase of the project as outlined in Annex 2, and that no information was yet available as to whether work was still running to schedule. “For this reason, I would like to see the paperwork that proves that the second phase has been completed, and if it hasn’t, I’d like to know who’s going to bear responsibility for such a failure,” the letter reads. Kostres also asked Kostunica whether the Montenegrin government had yet officially informed the Serbian government of the results of its own motorway feasibility study, given that one of the original motives for constructing the road was to link the two countries. “The provincial executive feels it’s vital to have access to the study to see whether and when construction of the Bar-Boljare highway will begin. If Montenegro is building a highway up to the Serbian border, what’s the point of the government giving concessions for the road only as far as Pozega, and not all the way up to the Montenegrin border,” wonders Kostres. He repeated that the Vojvodina Assembly had concluded that the concessions contract could harm the province, and asked for compensation in the form of a motorway in Banat and the construction of a bypass around Fruska Gora.

Government approves highway reshuffle

By withdrawing its start-up capital, FCC who won the tender for the concession has handed part of the work and the profits over to PORR, who finished second in the bidding.

State Concessions representative Mihajlo Marković told B92 that allowing FCC to pull out of the deal was permitted by the contract, and that moreover all the departmental boards within the ministries had given their approval for the move yesterday.

The question arises whether the state could be liable for paying penalties to the other participants in the tender because of these new developments.

“There has never been any danger, nor is there any chance of any damages being paid or any fines being incurred for bringing new companies into the consortium, come the end of the contractual process” said Marković.

He did not feel that the change in the consortium’s ownership structure contravened relations between the concessionaire and the state.

Marković claimed that the public had access to the complete documentation of the contract.

FCC owns an 80 percent stake in Alpina who remain in the deal.

Kostreš: Koštunica should clear up uncertainty

Vojvodina Assembly Speaker Bojan Kostreš has called on Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica to clear up “all the confusion” linked to the Horgoš-Požega highway concessions.

In an open letter to Koštunica and government members, Kostreš asked for an explanation as to why the decision to include PORR within the consortium had taken so long, given that FCC had announced their withdrawal as far as back as June 27, 2007.

He reminded the government that, in spite of promises to the contrary, the full text of the concessions contract - including annexes 3, 4, 5, 11 and 12 - had still not been made public.

The Vojvodina speaker said that, under the terms of the contract, the deadline had now passed for the implementation of the second phase of the project as outlined in Annex 2, and that no information was yet available as to whether work was still running to schedule.

“For this reason, I would like to see the paperwork that proves that the second phase has been completed, and if it hasn’t, I’d like to know who’s going to bear responsibility for such a failure,” the letter reads.

Kostreš also asked Koštunica whether the Montenegrin government had yet officially informed the Serbian government of the results of its own motorway feasibility study, given that one of the original motives for constructing the road was to link the two countries.

“The provincial executive feels it’s vital to have access to the study to see whether and when construction of the Bar-Boljare highway will begin. If Montenegro is building a highway up to the Serbian border, what’s the point of the government giving concessions for the road only as far as Požega, and not all the way up to the Montenegrin border,” wonders Kostreš.

He repeated that the Vojvodina Assembly had concluded that the concessions contract could harm the province, and asked for compensation in the form of a motorway in Banat and the construction of a bypass around Fruška Gora.