July 15 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's Supreme Administrative Court has rejected a complaint filed by Romania-based piping systems provider J. Christof E&P Services against an anti-trust body's decision to let the construction of a natural gas compressor station proceed.
There are no legitimate reasons for suspension of the tender procedure called by Bulgarian gas transmission system operator Bulgartransgaz, as complaints against any decisions, actions or lack of actions by the contracting authority, with the exception of a decision for awarding a contract, can not result in suspension, the court said in its ruling published last week.
The court upheld the decision of Bulgaria's Commission for Protection of Competition, dismissing J. Christof E&P Services' request for suspension. The ruling of the Supreme Administrative Court can not be appealed.
According to information published by CPC, in its complaint J. Christof E&P Services objected to clarifications provided by Bulgartransgaz in relation to questions raised by potential participants in the procedure. The clarifications concern various aspects of the procedure, including access to documents, parts of the technical specification, requirements for participation, and others.
Last month Bulgartransgaz said that a consortium of local company Klimatronik, Belarus-based construction company Alvora, Ukraine's Poltavaspezmontage and Spanish infrastructure consulting company TEC Cuatro, and another tie-up comprising Bulgaria's Glavbolgarstroy and Germany's Ferrostaal Industrieanlagen have placed bids in the tender.
The tender, which was launched in April, envisages investment project design, supply of materials and equipment, and construction works on two compressor stations - in Provadiya and Rasovo, in the northeastern and southwestern part of the country, respectively. The two compressor stations are needed in order to build a leg of TurkStream gas pipeline through Bulgaria.
At the end of January, Bulgartransgaz completed the binding Phase 3 of the economic test for the project - part of a larger project of Russia's Gazprom to build a string of its TurkStream pipeline for transit of gas to Europe from Turkey via Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary.
The offshore section of the TurkStream pipeline stretching 930 km across the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey consists of two parallel strings with annual throughput capacity of 15.75 billion cubic metres of gas each. One string is intended for consumers in Turkey, while the second will carry gas to customers in Europe.
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