Aktor made a billion euros higher offer than Konstruktor

Negotiations between the Montenegrin government and the Greek-Israeli consortium Aktor-HCH regarding the construction of the highway from Bar to Boljare are expected to begin next week, most likely on March 17, as announced by the company, confirming that an official invitation from the government in Podgorica has already arrived.

After the disqualification of the Croatian consortium led by Konstruktor, the Montenegrin government set a one-month deadline for talks with representatives of Aktor, the second-ranked company in the highway construction tender, expecting them to significantly lower the construction price. According to government plans, a concession agreement should be reached in the next month, while the financial offer should be finalized in the next three months, allowing Aktor to obtain valid bank guarantees.

"The start of construction will depend on the willingness of multilateral financial institutions and banks such as EBRD and EIB to finance this project," said Janis Lafas, chief designer of the Greek company, to Montenegro Television. Aktor has offered a price of 3.92 billion euros for the construction of the entire highway, which is just over a billion euros higher than the offer from Konstruktor.

The Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Telecommunications, Andrija Lompar, recently stated that he expects the Greek-Israeli consortium Aktor-HCH to certainly lower its financial offer for the construction of the Bar-Boljare highway."Everything we have done so far, after two rounds of negotiations with the Greeks, leads to the conclusion that we will easily agree on the legal elements and the concession agreement. The Greeks have expressed a willingness to lower their financial offer in the talks. By how much – we will see," Lompar said for the portal Analitika.

When asked by Analitika about the possibilities of lowering the price of the Greek offer, Lompar replied that government and consortium representatives have identified areas in the financial offer where there is room for price reduction. According to him, it is about a construction price that can be lower, maintenance costs of the highway during the concession period can also be cheaper, and it is believed that financial costs and proposed interest rates can also be significantly lower than initially proposed. If the Greeks do not lower their financial offer for the construction of the highway, the government may open frozen offers, i.e., those previously submitted without financial elements, Lompar said, reminding that the list of original bidders includes Aktor-HCH, Konstruktor, Alpina, and Strabag. (H)