Infrastructure Ministry faces furor over procedures for new airport tender

The Infrastructure Ministry is expected to appoint a group of independent experts to re-evaluate the three offers for development of the new Warsaw Okecie Airport Terminal 2, recently settled by Polish State Airports (PPL). The move follows demands by the Hochtief construction company, which will submit a respective claim to the Infrastructure Minister Marek Pol. Hochtief maintains that the price of $200 million, proposed by the winning consortium of Budimex-Ferrovial, is unrealistically low. "We are anxious about the absence of a fair tender procedure. We will ask the Ministry to perform an detailed evaluation of all three offers by independent experts," said Hochtief Polska management board chairman Uwe Kruger, on Monday. According to Hochtief, there were no formal reasons to exclude the company from the tender procedure. Accusations concern, among other things, changes to the criteria of evaluating offers during the tender procedure and excessive alterations in the composition of the PPL and the tender commission. The other participant in the tender, Strabag, also announced its intention to appeal on Friday. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 6) M.T.