The Bilbao City Council awards the contract for the definitive opening up of the Deusto Canal to the temporary consortium formed by Dragados and Hermanos Elortegi

The Bilbao City Council has awarded the contract for the definitive opening up of the Deusto Canal to the temporary Consortium formed by Dragados and Hermanos Elortegi.

The winning consortium offered 11.53 million euros (VAT included) for the work covered by the contract and has 12 months to finish.

The call for tenders with a base price of 13.5 million euros (VAT included) attracted 5 offers.

The works consist of the excavation to open up the Deusto Canal and the building of the quaysides on both banks. The area to be excavated is 490 metres long, 75 metres wide and 10 metres deep. 360,000 cubic metres of earth will need to be evacuated.

This is the second call for tenders by the Bilbao City Council for the excavation works on the Deusto Canal.

Previously, it was awarded in February 2014, along wth the construction of the Frank Gehry Bridge (which today links Deusto to Zorrotzaurre), to a temporary consortium formed by Exhasa, Viuda de Sainz, Balzola and Urssa for 17.3 million euros (before VAT) with 18 months for completion.

In October 2016, the City Council decided to revoke the contract as the consortium refused to restart work after several months of having stopped work due to economic differences between the City Council and the consortium over the cost of the contract.