By Jean Christou
THE Cypriot-Chinese joint venture for the construction of the Limassol to Paphos highway wants the government to explain why it awarded two other contracts to a higher bidder.
The joint venture is also accusing the government of causing up to two years delay on the completion of the section of highway from Aspro to Petra tou Romiou which it haa been contracted to do.
Panayides Contracting and China Wanbao Engineering Corporation say they submitted a cheaper tender for the Xylophagou-Sotira interchange and from there to Ayia Napa than nearest rivals Medcon.
A letter to the Communications and Works Ministry, seeking an explanation, says the China Wanbao bid was £220,000 cheaper than Medcon’s £6.5 million offer.
“No explanation has been afforded to the joint venture as to why this tender was not accepted,” the letter said.
Under tender procedures once a company’s ability to get the job done has been established, the envelope containing the financial bid is then opened. The contract should then go to the lowest bidder. The China Wanbao venture is already on the Public Works Department (PWD) list of pre-qualified companies so it was necessary only for it to submit a financial bid.
“The joint venture fails to understand was to why the employer (the PWD) has, contrary to the provisions… not awarded the contract to the lowest evaluated tenderer,” the letter said.
On the issue of the Limassol-Paphos highway stretch between Aspro and Petra tou Romiou, the company said it had been given 27 months with a completion date under the contract of June 15, 2000.
It now says continuing changes demanded by the government engineer have caused a two-year delay for completion of the stretch to July 8, 2002. To date the company says it has not received either a fair and reasonable extension of the time needed nor payment for the delays caused.
Both companies in the joint venture say their professionalism cannot be questioned. China Wanbao is classed as a Category 1 contractor with ongoing projects in 10 countries worth more than $400 million.
Panayides Contracting has under its belt the new Arab Bank headquarters in Nicosia, the new GSP stadium, and the recently opened Orphanides hypermarket which it says was probably the fastest track project in Cyprus, being completed in a record 14 months.
Panayides is also one of the companies involved in building the new Nicosia Hospital.
“The Joint Venture fails to understand the reasons as to why the Ministry… is applying such treatment,” the letter said.
Officials from the Ministry were unavailable for comment yesterday.
