Only the Pesa manufacturer (Poland) can meet the deadline that was set in the Kyivpastrans company’s tender for supply of 10 low-floor trams, the LigaBusinessInform publication reports, citing experts surveyed on the issue.
As reported, trams with lengths of 26-28 meters should be supplied in the first half of this year. The expected cost of the trams is UAH 287 million. The deadline for submission of bid documents by applicants is to 10:00 on February 12, and bids will be unsealed at 11:00 on the same day.
Foreign trams are likely to be purchased because no Ukrainian producer produces trams that meet these technical requirements stipulated in the tender. In addition, the stated delivery deadline excludes the participation of companies without ready-made trams.
"Essentially, the tender is tailored 100% to low-floor trams,” said Denys Filippov, an independent transport expert. "Electron is not yet capable of delivering seven trams under the first tender. Therefore, it did not even submit bids for the next one. Tatra-Yug does not have such trams. The tender is most likely tailored to the Polish company Pesa, which has ready-made trams. If another manufacturer wins, they can always say ‘funding was not found.’”
Oleksandr Kava, a former transport adviser to Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko, agrees: "The technical requirements are tailored to Pesa. Apart from the Poles, nobody will have time to produce these trams from scratch and supply them within the deadline that was set. Only Pesa, which has everything ready. For example, the Alstom Citadis CIS 71-801 tram, which is certified for the broad gauge, has a length of 25.5 meters and Kyiv’s tender requirements specify 26-28 meters. In addition, the Polish tram does not require certification because it has already been certified in Russia."
The tram in question is the Pesa Foxtrot 71-414, a three-section tram that is designed specifically to order from the Moscow authorities. A contract for supply of 120 trams was signed in 2012. About 60 trams have been delivered thus far, but Moscow has refused to buy the remainder following an adjustment of process resulting from the devaluation of the ruble. "There are about 22 finished cars at the plant in Poland, so they are trying to place them in Kyiv," said Kava.
One such tram has already arrived Kyiv. Klitschko presented it at a tram parade in October 2015. A few months earlier – in June – Klitschko visited the plant in Pesa Bydgoszcz, where he discussed the preliminary conditions for supply of the trams to Kyiv. Delivery of about 50 trams to the Ukrainian capital was announced at the time.
LigaBusinessInform also reports that a 30-meter, low-floor Electron tram cost Kyiv UAH 26 million while a single partially low-floor K1M car produced by Tatra-Yug costs UAH 13 million.
