Uruguay halts US$800mn railway PPP tender

Uruguay's public works ministry (MTOP) suspended the bidding process for the US$800mn Central railway following a complaint by Spanish infrastructure firm Acciona regarding its disqualification.

In May, MTOP opened three technical proposals for the PPP railway contract, with Acciona being one of the bidders. However, according to a press release from the firm, on July 31 its offer was disqualified due to "not completely complying with all terms, conditions and requirements of the bidding documents."

The company called this decision "non-transparent, arbitrary and unjustified," prompting the decision to halt the whole process, which was supposed to continue Thursday with the opening of the economic offers.

In July, public works minister Víctor Rossi told daily El País that another of the three bidders, a consortium compromising Chinese firms CMEC (China Machinery Engineering Corporation)-SDHS (Shandong Hi-speed Group) was also disqualified due to lack of documentation.

Following Acciona's disqualification, the only consortium able to present a bid would be Grupo Via Central, made up of Uruguayan firms Saceem and Berkes, France's NGE and Spain's Sacyr.

Rossi told Radio Uruguay that the process would be suspended until the controversy was solved, and that the ministry would give Acciona time to make its defense.

"We have a tight schedule, but we're interested that the companies have all the opportunities and guarantees," he said.

The project entails building and operating a 273km freight rail line between capital Montevideo's port and the town of Paso de los Toros in Tacuarembó department.