Construction of the Nis-Merdare highway begins - Contractor for the first section from Merosina to Beloljina selected

The construction of the first section of the Nis-Merdare highway was assigned to the company Strabag, i.e. a group of bidders consisting of Strabag AG Austria and Strabag d.o.o. Belgrade.

It concerns the construction of the section from Merosina to Beloljina (Nis-Plocnik) in the length of 5.5 kilometers.

The works to be carried out by Strabag will include the construction of the second road and the reconstruction of the existing 5.1 km long between the Merosina interchange and the Merosina 1 interchange, including the construction of bridges, Merosina 1 interchange, overpasses, culverts, local roads and other related works.

As stated in the notice for voluntary prior transparency published by Corridors of Serbia as the contracting authority, the total value of the procurement (excluding VAT) is around EUR 22.5m (RSD 2,655,565,908).

This is roughly EUR 2m higher than the initial estimated value of the works, which amounted to 20.6m EUR (2,420,500,000) million dinars, excluding VAT.

The notice states that the criterion for awarding the contract was the price, and, as they said for eKapija in the Corridors, eight bidders applied for the tender announced in March.

However, the Corridor notice states that the contract was awarded without a public call, based on exceptions to the application of the Public Procurement Law, because, as explained, it is still a procurement of works carried out in accordance with the Procurement Guide for Projects financed by the European Investment Bank (EIB).

As Bojana Stojadinovic, in charge of public procurement in the Corridors of Serbia, explained for our portal, the reason is that the tender was not published on the Public Procurement Portal, but exclusively on the Corridor website as the contracting authority and on the EU Official Gazette website.

- This is an exception to the application of the Law on Public Procurement because the works are financed by international organizations that have their own procedures and rules with which the tender documentation must be harmonized. The public procurement portal was not approved by the EIB as the main financier of the project and the bank has no insight into it, so the tender could not be published there and that is why the notice on voluntary transparency states that there was no public invitation - Stojadinovic explained.

The first phase of the highway, from Nis to Beloljin, with a total length of 37.4 km, will be financed from loan funds and an investment grant made available to Serbia by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank.

The EBRD loan is EUR 85 million, the EIB loan is EUR 100 million, and the grant (grant) from the EIB (WBIF) is EUR 40.6 million.

As previously announced from the Corridor of Serbia, for the remaining three sections of the highway from Nis to Beloljin, activities on the preparation of technical and tender documentation have been intensified, and rapid publication of public calls is expected.

According to the announcements of the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, the works on the first section of the Nis-Plocnik highway are scheduled to begin in the end of September, when the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, arrives in Serbia.

B. Petrovic

Koridori Srbije d.o.o. Beograd

Evropska investiciona banka EIB

EBRD Evropska banka za obnovu i razvoj

Strabag AG

EIB

EBRD

European commision

Bojana Stojadinovic

Aleksandar Vucic

Ursula fon der Leyen

Nis Merdare highway

Nis Plocnik highway

Merosina Beloljin section

highway

construction

loan