Ljubljana - The National Review Commission has rejected as ungrounded the demands for a review of a selection procedure for main construction works on the Divača-Koper rail track in which four Chinese bidders were eliminated from the competition. This means a decision has been reached on all seven complaints, so the procedure is now closed.

The project management company 2TDK published two calls for applications for the EUR 1bn-plus project on 11 November 2019 - one for the construction of the track between Divača and Črni Kal and the other between Črni Kal and Koper.

The project was split in two, because of geological structure of the terrain and the lower price expected as a result.

A total of 15 builders and consortiums have submitted bids.

In October, 2TDK decided to eliminate all but four bidders.

Only the consortia respectively led by Slovenian builder Gorenjska Gradbena Družba, Austria's Strabag, Slovenia's Kolektor CPG and Turkish builder Cengiz were designated as eligible and remained in the bidding process.

The seven eliminated bidders lodged a complaint, but the review commission nodded only to one - that filed by Austria's Strabag, thus annulling 2TDK's decision on keeping the consortium led by Gorenjska Gradbena Družba in competition.

The other six complaints were rejected, with the decision on the last four being announced today.

The commission said today it has rejected as ungrounded review claims by Ginex International and China Gezhouba Group Company, China Communications Construction Company, China Railway Group and China State Construction Engineering Corporation.

2TDK designated them as not eligible because China is not a signatory of the World Trade Organisation agreement on government orders and does not have multilateral or two-lateral agreements with either Slovenia or the EU.

The National Review Commission found no irregularities in this procedure.

The procedure at the commission is thus closed.

The companies that had been designated as eligible have until 1 February 2021 to submit their bids.