Skopje, 13 March 2023 (MIA) – The procedure for the selection of construction supervisor for Corridors VIII and X-d was transparent from beginning to end and in line with the Law on Public Procurement, said the Public Enterprise for State Roads (JPDP) on Monday.

At a meeting with media over the project which launched a public debate concerning the companies that are a part of the IRD Engineering consortium, which was selected to supervise the construction, JPDP director Ejup Rustemi stressed that the procedure passed the checks of the administrative control, which determined that it is in line with the law.

“We will wait on the State Commission for Prevention of Corruption and all other institutions to publish their positions,” said Rustemi.

Rustemi clarified that JPDP consulted with experts from the Faculty of Civil Engineering and from abroad in order to ensure a transparent selection process of a legal and transactional consultant and supervisor for the infrastructure project.

“The commission, members and deputy members worked for a month and a half and carried out a detailed assessment of the entire documentation, which is here,” said Rustemi, showing documents from the procedure which he said was carried out in line with the Law on Public Procurements from beginning to end.

According to that Law, said Rustemi, the specification and documentation for the entire process, from the beginning, when the tender was published, and up to the decision and the selection of a legal and transactional consultant and supervisor, are publicly available on the Electronic System for Public Procurement for everyone to see.

JPDP stressed that none of the companies from the selected consortium had a work ban, i.e., a negative reference. If there was a negative reference then, they said, the Electronic System itself would show that.

“No Law instructs us to evaluate shareholders, but companies, i.e., the references of the companies. There are no work bans for the companies that we selected. The members of the commission are family people and did their best to complete the assessment. We are transparent and we have a 500 page report on all three offers,” said Rustemi.

The consortium selected as the legal and transactional advisor and supervisor, IRD Engineering, also stressed that the companies that are a part of their consortium do not have any bans preventing them from participating in public procurement procedures. “We checked whether they fulfill the conditions of the public call and we determined that they did,” IRD said.

According to the Contract on the construction of Corridors VIII and X-d, four highway sections with a total length of 108.8km will be constructed at the price of EUR 1.3 billion, excluding design and expropriation costs. It is not yet known how much each of the sections will cost separately.

Initial calculations show that the 17.5km long Tetovo – Gostivar section will cost EUR 125 million, Gostivar – Bukojchani (30.3km) EUR 560 million, Trebenishta – Struga – Qafasan (21.6km) EUR 360 million, and Prilep – Bitola (39.4km) EUR 260 million.

The highway sections will have three 10.7-meter-wide lanes. The average price per kilometer should be around EUR 12 million.

The prices are based on a feasibility study carried out by the Faculty of Civil Engineering and revised by the Grant Thornton consulting company. The construction contract was drafted on the basis of the FIDIC principles. Which means that the payments will be made out according to the work carried out on the ground.

Construction activities on the Tetovo – Gostivar and Prilep – Bitola highway sections are expected to begin April 22, 2023.

Minister of Transport and Communications Blagoj Bochvarski, who attended the briefing, stressed that with the Contract with Bechtel and Enka, a new practice in design and construction is being introduced in the country for the first time.

“The entire region is already utilizing the practice of design and construction, i.e., the state delegates both the design and construction works to the contractor. In order for us to have enough control over the entire process, the contract and the law both state that the contractor should ask for a permit from JPDP for every new technical possibility or a solution,” said Bochvarski, noting that the old standard regular procedure had led to complicated construction works and additional costs in the past.

According to Bochvarski, it is crucial that the construction of the Corridor VIII and X-d highway sections be completed as soon as possible, so that we can be a central country in the crossing of the road corridors.

“We believe that it is our obligation and duty to construct these corridors in 5, and not in 25 or 30 years, thereby contributing to stronger economic growth and development of the country, for more investments, safer traffic and also, with these projects we will once again direct the transit through the country through the two main corridors of the Balkan peninsula,” said Bochvarski.

Noting that the European Union placed Corridor 8 on the map of the main European corridors of the Western Balkans, Bochvarski said that North Macedonia has undertaken an obligation to raise the level of the highway sections and the constructed railways and corridors.

On the EU map, Corridor X is completed at a level of a highway solution, but Corridor VIII has a much more difficult terrain and requires serious construction work.

The Contract with Bechtel and Enka, which were selected as strategic partners for the project, was signed last week in the government building. The State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption filed a case on the project in order to assess the reports about one of the companies from the consortium selected as supervisor on the project. ad/sk/