Vilnius mayor to continue national stadium tender with 1 participant

While the other participant – consortium of KDS Grupė of Kaunas and Poland’s Budimex – is collapsing and planning to withdraw from the tender, the Vilnius mayor expressed hope that the consortium would still make an offer.

Šimašius said the municipality would continue the tender, even if Icor is the only participant.

“I would really want to have two participants, if there is only one, we will negotiate with one, however, it is my objective to have two in order to pick the best option,” the mayor told BNS.

He assured that the municipality would not terminate the tender, even if some members of the tender jury have proposed the step, according to information available to BNS. In Šimašius’ words, if there is at least one participant and an agreement can be reached, there will be no risk of losing European Union (EU) support, however, the risk remains in the opposite case.

Vilnius hopes to get 33.6 million euros in EU money for the 88.5-million-euro project. According to information available to BNS, the money should be paid and used before September of 2022. If the tender works out as planned, the contract with the winner would take effect in April of 2019, immediately before the start of the construction.

The tender for the national stadium concession was announced in September of 2017, with preliminary offers from the tender participants expected until Oct. 23.