Railway tender still deadlocked in Central

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

Setbacks in a tender process initiated last year have left local railways in Central Anatolia at a standstill. “The Turkish State Railways (TCDD) could not finalize the Başkentray tender, so local trains do not work, which is not good,” said Süleyman Karaman, General Manager of TCDD.

The Başkentray project involves the rebuilding of the Sincan-Ankara-Kayaş railway line in Central Anatolia. The tender was actually made April 25 last year with the participation of both local and foreign firms but the execution of the tender was later suspended. “To us the winner of the tender was the Gülermak-Kolin consortium. The technical staff from the public procurement authority also examined all the process and they approved. The court however decided that there are some problems with the tender process.”

Following the court’s suspension of the execution decision, Porr Bau GmbH firm, which offered the second lowest price after the Gülermak-Kolin consortium, was accepted the winner. “I know it is not right for a tender that was approved by the technical staff of the public procurement authority to take too long to realize. The tender was made one year ago but we could do nothing right now. Local trains do not work. If the tender had been finalized accordingly, the first step of the rebuilding process would have been ended,” Karaman said.

A total of 17 local and global firms and consortiums made price offers for the tender last year. The Gülermak-Kolin consortium became the winner by giving the lowest offer. When Porr Bau GmbH objected to the decision, the execution of the tender was suspended. Some other tender participants presented their official objections as well. The rebuilding of the rail line, which will play a big role in decreasing the duration of travel by train between Ankara and Eskişehir to 1.5 hours, now appears to be in deadlock.