The President of the Island Council, Marc Pons, and the Councillor for Transport, Damià Borràs, announced last week that the contract for the Ferreries bypass had been awarded to Ferrovial Agroman and Concessiones y Contratas Illes Balears, S.L. The two companies, which have formed a temporary partnership for the duration of the contract, put in a quote of 21,324.448 euros (excluding I.V.A.) for the project, a figure that was 23% lower than the initial guide price.
The decision to accept the Ferrovial-Illes Balears tender was made by the contracting committee after it had analysed three lower offers, presented by COPCISA-Climent Olives, Acciona-Melchor Mascaró and Dragados-Antonio Gomila and Juan Mora, and concluded that the quotes were "disproportionately" low and could put the project's viability at risk.
Marc Pons showed his satisfaction that the long-awaited project, "the biggest civil work ever awarded by the Council", was finally on the move. Although considering it too early to set a definite timetable for the project, the President hoped that work would begin at Easter and that, with a completion date of 16 months, the bypass would open at the end of summer 2011.
Cost overruns
Damià Borràs was questioned about the possibility of a cost overrun on the project, such as has happened with the Ciutadella jetty which was another of Ferrovial's projects. He explained that the authorities were protected in this instance as both the project and the work were the responsibility of the company winning the contract, so any errors would be theirs, with no margin for claiming deficiencies in a project which they had drawn up themselves.
Local services to be used
One of the two companies which will build the bypass is a firm based in Alaior, Concessiones y Contratas Illes Balears. A relatively new entity formed only five years ago, the company obtained an undertaking from Ferrovial, when entering into the temporary partnership, that local companies would be subcontracted for the project wherever possible so that the construction of the bypass would bring further benefits to the island. Obviously, the exception to this stipulation would be any work requiring specialist skills that are not available in Menorca.