January 28 (SeeNews) - Slovenian state-owned motorway company DARS said on Tuesday it will sign on January 30 a deal worth 120 million euro ($132 million), VAT included, with Turkey's Cengiz for the construction of a second pipe of the Karavanke motorway tunnel.
The contract value without VAT totals 98.5 million euro, DARS said in a statement.
Under the agreement, the contractor should submit by February 27 a bank guarantee for the proper execution of its contractual obligations, it added.
In December, DARS named Cengiz as the winner of a tender to build Karavanke's second pipe after lowering its offer to 98.5 million euro from the originally proposed 99.6 million euro.
The other two bidders have also reportedly lowered the price of their offers but have failed to outbid Cengiz. A consortium comprising Slovenia's Kolektor CGP, Riko and Turkey's Yapi Merkenzi slashed its offer to 104 million euro from 121 million euro, while a consortium of Austria's Implenia Osterreich, Implenia Switzerland and Slovenian firm CGP Novo Mesto lowered its offer to 115 million euro from 121.4 million euro, according to media reports.
The procedure for selecting a contractor has been unfolding for more two years now since DARS opened the first tender in December 2017. Complaints by interested bidders challenging previous DARS decisions have slowed down the process.
The future eastern pipe of the Karavanke tunnel on Slovenian territory, to the border with Austria, will be 3,546 metres long.
($=0.9087 euro)