THE European Commission (EC) has notified Lisbon Metro that it will open an in-depth investigation into one of the bids submitted for the contract to design and build the Violet Line, under Regulation (EU) 2022/2560 that prohibits foreign subsidies that may distort the European internal market.
The investigation concerns the lowest bid submitted to build the Violet Line, a 11.5km light rail line that will run from Várzea de Loures to Hospital Beatriz Ângelo. Offering a price of €598.9m, the bid was submitted by a joint venture of Mota-Engil, Zagope and the Portuguese subsidiary of Spie Batignolles Internacional, which indicated that Portugal CRRC Tangshan Rolling Stock would be its future subcontractor.
In a statement, Lisbon Metro says that the tendering process for the contract is not itself the subject of the investigation, and that it is for the EC to determine whether Portugal CRRC Tangshan Rolling Stock has benefitted from state financial support from a third country that is likely to distort competition.
Lisbon Metro says that it will fully cooperate with the investigation and will comply with the applicable regulations. It notes that the regulations stipulate that all procedural stages of the public procurement procedure may proceed, with the exception of contract award.
With a budget of €600m, tendering of the Violet Line design-build contract was launched on April 15 and bids were opened on July 15. The other bids were received from:
- MasterStylo (€600m)
- Teixeira Duarte/Casais/Tecnovia/EPOS/Somafel/Jayme da Costa (€716.1m), and
- FCC Construcción/Contratas y Ventas/Comsa/Comsa Instalaciones y Sistemas Industriales/Fergrupo (€630m).
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