BRATISLAVA, November 11, (WEBNOVINY) – The Transport Ministry has issued a fine of EUR 10 million for the concessionaire company Slovenske Dialnice, a.s. The reason behind it is that the company failed to secure financing for the public-private partnership (PPP) project for the construction and operation of five stretches of D1 highway between Martin and Presov, the ministry explains. According to the Transport Ministry, the concessionaire should have paid the fine, based on the concessionaire contract within two weeks from its issuance, which was around the end of October. The director of the Institute for Strategies at the Transport Ministry Jan Kovalcik told journalists Thursday that the concessionaire did not hand over all documentation necessary for the state to take over the building site or continue in construction following the preparatory works.
The concessionaire contract for the first PPP package signed by the previous Transport Minister Lubomir Vazny, ceased to be valid, after incumbent Transport Minister Jan Figel did not prolong the sixth deadline for financial closure of the project which was August 30. The concessionaire contract, according to the ministry, deals with the payment for realized preparatory works, which was paid by the state in October. However, it does not stipulate how the handing over of the building site and realized preparatory works will be carried out if the contract does not come into effect and the cooperation between the contractual sides ends.
SITA