Bilbao City Council rescinds the contract for the opening up of the Deusto canal

The Bilbao City Council has rescinded the contract for the works to open up the Deusto canal held by the Temporary Consortium formed by Exvasa, Viuda de Sainz, Balzola and Urssa and awarded in February 2014 after the call for tenders and a favourable decision from the Legal Advice Commission of the Basque Country.

The decision to rescind was taken due to the Temporary Consortium’s refusal to comply with the demand from the City Council to restart the Works that were stopped months earlier due to differences between the Consortium and the City over the cost of the contract.

The Consortium demanded an increase in the price of the contract as a consequence of the environmental improvements introduced by the City Council into the Excavation Plan with a claimed significant increase in costs.

The City Council understands, and the Legal Advice Commission of the Basque Country confirms, that the new Excavation Plan and the additional requirements are a consequence of the winning technical offer of the Consortium and the calculations made in it. For this reason, the City Council considers that the changes introduced should not represent an increase in costs for the Council.

The Council will now settle the part of the Works completed to date and will draw up the terms and conditions of a new call for tenders for the execution of the remaining works, principally the excavation of the canal itself.