If we Slovenians thought that the overpaid courthouse on Litijska Street in Ljubljana was the end of everything, we were wrong. Behind the backs of Slovenian taxpayers, incredible things have been happening at the Ministry of Infrastructure under the leadership of Alenka Bratušek – a person who has proven to be financially incompetent in the past.
On the 7th of December 2023, the Slovenian Infrastructure Agency signed a contract for the upgrade of the Nova Gorica railway station. The estimated value of the entire project, according to the approved investment programme, is 61.6 million euros, the Ministry confirmed.
While the Slovenian public has been hearing about overpaid investments of a few million euros lately, in this case, we are talking about an investment that will be overpaid by more than 22 million euros, as only one contractor applied for the tender.
Investment overpaid by more than 22 million euros
The Slovenian Infrastructure Agency launched the tender at the end of June 2023 to find a contractor to renovate the building of the train station, replace the tracks and safety equipment, build an underpass, platforms, a new transformer station, and other required facilities.
The value of the deal was estimated at just under 29 million euros (excluding VAT) by the Infrastructure Agency, which is part of the Ministry of Infrastructure (headed by Alenka Bratušek), but as the contracting authority only received one bid in an open procedure, the company that filed it eventually got the deal. “The tenderer submitted a final bid of 50,713,180.47 euros (VAT included) during the negotiations on the 28th of November 2023,” the Ministry said, adding that “the value of the construction works offered was within the scope of the overall project and, consequently, it was not necessary to proceed with the preparation of an amendment to the investment programme.” We asked the Ministry directly about the payment obligations in the contract but have not yet received a reply.
Who are the contractors?
On the 1st of February, the Municipality of Nova Gorica announced on its website that the renovations had started, and the renovations as such are, of course, not controversial. What is allegedly controversial is the fact that some 22.8 million euros more will be taken out of the taxpayers’ pockets than is necessary, and this because only one contractor had applied for the tender. And who are the renovation contractors?
Is it a coincidence that among the contractors of the construction works, in addition to Slovenian Railways – Railway Construction Company Ljubljana (SŽ – ŽGP) d.d., GH HOLDING d.o.o. and ISKRA d.o.o., there is also the Kolektor Koling d.o.o. consortium of companies, which is owned by the Kolektor Group?
The main shareholder in the aforementioned group is Stojan Petrič. The Railway Construction Company, owned by Slovenian Railways, is headed by Dušan Mes. GH Holding is owned and managed by Blaž Miklavčič. The company Iskra is owned by Dušan Šešok. We are talking about well-known entrepreneurs, among whom there are well-known faces from privatisation and tycoon stories, and who regularly cash in on state business.
Alenka Bratušek has been the political goose that lays golden eggs for Slovenian construction barons for years – first as Prime Minister, and now for the second time as Minister of Infrastructure. It is no coincidence that a parallel mechanism has placed her at the helm of a department so critically important for pumping public money into the private pockets of former representatives of Kučan’s Forum 21.
At the time, she wanted to exclude foreign investors from the construction of the second track of the Primorska railway, which fell into the hands of Kolektor, even though this meant a hole in the budget, but later an analysis by the International Transport Forum proved that the construction of the second track was not economically viable. Under her leadership, the construction of the second track has risen in cost by 9.3 percent to the price of more than 1 billion euros, and the completion of the construction works is scheduled for mid-2026, not the end of 2025 as planned. Logically, Bratušek and Petrič celebrated the higher price tag that came at the taxpayers’ expense – and they did so with a hug.
“While we are all dealing with Dominika Švarc Pipan and the 7.7 million euros that were paid for the court building in Ljubljana, Alenka Bratušek is building a railway station in Nova Gorica for 61.6 million euros. Yes, you read that right. The construction of the railway station in Nova Gorica will cost 61,600,000 euros. Since only one contractor applied, the project has incidentally increased in price by 22 million euros,” wrote Nova24TV director Boris Tomašič on social media, promising that the matter would not remain unresearched.
Tanja Brkić
