Bouygues Consortium: Pre-Bid Conference for the Bar-Boljare Highway Concession Project opens in Podgorica

Tomorrow, on Wednesday November 26, 2008, will open in Podgorica, Montenegro, a two-day Pre-Bid Conference for Bar-Boljare Highway Concession Project, at which will be present the Bouygues Consortium, formed by French companies Bouygues Travaux Publics and DTP Terrassement, two subsidiaries of Bouygues Construction, and Hungarian Intertoll-Europe, as one the four consortia and two companies that acquired in July last the right to progress to the formal tender phase.

The other pre-qualified bidders are:
 Alpine Consortium, formed by Austrian “ALPINE Bau”, “PORR Solutions Immobilien- und Infrastrukturprojekte”, and Croatian “Koteks”;
 Aktor Consortium, formed by Greek companies “Aktor Concessions” and “Aktor”;
 Konstruktor Consortium, formed by Croatian “Konstruktor-Inženjering, Tehnika” and “Institut Građevinarstva Hrvatske” (IGH); and
 Companies Strabag from Austria and Housing & Construction Holding Co. Ltd. from Israel.

During the Conference, to be opened by Prime Minister Mr. Milo Đukanović, will be exchanged extensive legal and technical documentation, and detailed information about the future tender phases, both during plenary and individual bilateral meetings with the Prime Minister, Transport Minister Mr. Andrija Lompar, and representatives of the Government Operational Team and of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) — the multinational organisation, part of the World Bank Group, that monitors the tender process and advises the Montenegrin Government.
The Conference follows a pre-qualifying step launched on June 16 last by the Montenegrin Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Telecommunications in order to identify potential bidders to participate in the separate international competitive tender process for this public-private partnership highway project. In five weeks of pre-qualification tender, eleven letters of interest were submitted, including those from Austrian “Strabag” and “Alpine”, Turkish “Tekfen Construction and Installation Co.”, Portuguese “Grupo Soares Da Costa”, Croatian “Konstruktor”, Hungarian “BBMP Consorcium Arcadom Co.”, Slovenian “BPI Ltd.”, Israeli “Housing & Construction Holding Co. Ltd.”, French “Bouygues” and Greek “Aktor Concessions”.

169.2 km long, the highway connecting Bar (Djurmani) and Boljare, through Virpazar, Smokovac, Mateševo and Berane, will cost about €1.94bn and includes the construction of 42 tunnels and 92 bridges and viaducts. One third of the funding will be used for the longest stretch, Smokovac-Mateševo, 43.5 km long. A total 65% of the funds will be spent on bridges, tunnels and viaducts. As part of the Bar-Belgrade-Budapest European corridor, the highway will link Montenegro and its Adriatic coast to Central Europe, offering a new alternative route between Central Europe and the Mediterranean Basin, helping improve transportation of freight and for tourists.

The construction of Bar-Boljare highway is planned to be launched in early 2009 and to be finished by 2017.