The contract for the renovation and upgrade of the Jesenice railway station “had” to go to Škrabec’s company, Riko. After the collapse of the previous deal, in which the company would have renovated the station for 170 million euros, a new deal has apparently been struck. Now, Riko will renovate the station for almost 146 million euros, including taxes.
On Monday, the Ministry of Infrastructure started opening the bids received for the new public tender for the upgrade of the Jesenice rail logistics hub. Only one tenderer – Škrabec’s company, Riko – applied.
Riko submitted a bid that was only slightly lower than the maximum bid that would have been accepted by the Ministry of Infrastructure, headed by Minister Alenka Bratušek. The highest bid for the station’s renovation was estimated at 120 million euros, excluding tax. Riko submitted a bid of just over 119 million euros.
The project will be partly financed by European taxpayers, who will contribute 56.56 million euros through the Connecting Europe Facility.
Of course, this bid also drastically exceeds the estimated value of the project from the first procurement, which was estimated at 81 million euros in 2023, but then jumped to 137 million euros due to market changes and inflation. The first public procedure ended without a contract, mainly due to overbidding and probably also due to public outrage.
According to the media outlet Info360, the price of the project has decreased due to the fact that the Infrastructure Directorate has excluded the Hrušica and Plavž stops from the project, and the value of contingency works has also decreased.
The scope of the project
The 146-million-euros project in Jesenice is expected to bring upgrading of the tracks and the overhead contact line network, new platform infrastructure, reconstruction and extension of the existing underpass, an underpass under all platforms, a new layout of station premises, upgrading of station technology, rehabilitation of the existing station underpass, construction of a new car park, noise protection and the construction of a bridge over the Jesenice stream on the left and rehabilitation of the steel bridge on the right.
Ž. K.
