The Mykolaiv city council’s department of housing and utility services has invited fresh tenders for preparation of design specifications and cost estimates for overhaul of the Varvarovskyi bridge at the cost of UAH 19.8 million after the first three tenders attracted no bids.

This was announced in the ProZorro electronic public procurement system, the NikVesti local publication reports.

According to the tender documentation, tender documents are to be submitted by July 29. Bidding will take place on July 30. The winning contractor will have to submit a project for reconstruction of the bridge on March 31.

As reported, the project for reconstruction of the Varvarovskyi bridge should have been drafted in 2018, but the work was not completed because Soyuztransproekt LLC, which was due to receive UAH 3,779 million for development of the project, requested UAH 11 million after performance of the work gad already begun.

As a result, officials invited fresh tenders for preparation of design specifications and cost estimates for overhaul the bridge at the expected cost of UAH 5 million on January 21, but the tender was canceled due to lack of bids. Fresh tenders were invited on February 6, but they were also canceled due to lack of bids.

The department of housing and utility services invited tenders for preparation of design specifications and cost estimates for overhaul of the bridge at the expected cost of UAH 19.8 million, which is four times more than the amount stipulated in the previous two tenders, on March 15.

The department’s Director Serhii Korenev said that the money was quadrupled because contractors were refusing to perform the work for a lower amount.

However, that tender was also cancelled on May 27.

Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelian said that the government was considering two options for financing the repair of the Varvarovskyi bridge: with money from the state budget or from the Road Fund.

Meanwhile, according to Mayor of Mykolaiv Oleksandr Senkevych, there is no money for financing the overhaul of the bridge in city budget, although the overhaul needs to be performed within the coming year to prevent complete destruction of the structure.

The mayor appealed to parliamentary candidates from the Mykolaiv region to promise to include provisions on allocation of UAH 500 million for financing the overhaul of the Varvarovskyi bridge and increase of funds for financing state roads in Mykolaiv in the 2020 state budget if they won their elections.

As the CFTS reported earlier, the authorities decided to close the bridge to trucks in March.