A CONSORTIUM led by Brisa and Soares da Costa has presented the lowest financial proposal in the competitive tendering bid to build and operate a stretch of the TGV high-speed rail track between Poceirão and Caia.
The project presented is the lowest of all the bids so far at 1.3 billion euros.
The competitive tendering bid was the first to be launched under the new Public Contracts Code Regime, Código dos Contratos Públicos.
Over the next three months, all of the proposals put forward by both national and international consortiums will be analysed. These include proposals from the French group Eiffage and Spanish group Cintra, a subsidiary of Ferrovial.
However, the advantages in terms of construction shown by Portuguese companies are not so obvious when it comes to the long term maintenance, conservation and monitoring of the infrastructure over the 40 years of the concession lease.
Brisa/Soares da Costa is prepared to carry out the maintenance of the project for 11.6 million euros a year while Portuguese rival Mota-Engil predicts a 16.7 million euro cost. Cintra presented the lowest estimate at 10.8 million euros per year.
The total investment to construct the Poceirão-Caia stretch of track has been estimated by consultants for RAVE, the public company responsible for the high speed rail project in Portugal, as around 1.4 billion euros, a 15 per cent reduction on estimates presented in June 2007.
The consortium led by Portuguese companies managed to lower the estimates by 100 million euros.
Included in the funds available for the total cost of the stretch of the TGV is 641 million euros of EU community funds, 137 million euros from the Portuguese state and 60 million euros from REFER, the national rail administration).
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