In the partial acceptance of the Avax – Ghella – Alstom objection to the Metro line 4 under construction, with regard to the timetable and additional remuneration (prim) of 41.6 million, the Ministry of Infrastructure proceeded.
According to the relevant decision, signed by Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Christos Dimas, it was considered that at least at this stage the premium should not be returned by the consortium. However, the remaining requests of the consortium concerning the schedule of the project are rejected and the view of the Greek Metro is adopted, i.e. completion of the project on 3 September 2032, instead of 13 February 2034 provided for by the consortium proposal.
The decision is explicitly based on the reasoning that the delays that led to the extension of time limits are not due to the contractor. As stated, extensions were approved because they existed «delays in the free delivery of workplaces by the project owner», an item that takes responsibility from the consortium. In the same context, the Ministry accepts that these delays are «outside the sphere of influence and responsibility of the contractor» and even «identify with cases of force majeure», as they led to an extension of the timetable without its own fault.
Special importance is attached to the fact that the contracting authority itself had already recognised that «the extension was granted without fault of the contractor». On this basis, the reasoning concludes that «there is no legality in the refund of the additional benefit granted». In the same direction, the decision accepts that the compensation of the premium should not go directly ahead with subsequent payments, pointing out that this would cause «direct and substantial financial burden» the contractor, while there is no corresponding risk to the State, as there is an equal guarantee letter.
In the light of the foregoing, the part of the objection concerning the premium is accepted in the express wording that «There must be no refund of the premium received at present». On the contrary, the Ministry rejects the arguments of the consortium regarding the timetable. It considers that the revised timetable submitted by the contractor constitutes in practice a request for an extension of the overall deadline and accepts the Greek Metro corrections.
These corrections were based on the option to take into account only delays resulting from the late delivery of the premises and to exclude additional activities that the contractor had adopted, such as new studies and future work, because «are not specific and finalised data» and their temporal impact «not clear»At the same time, the reasoning accepts that delays attributed to the contractor itself have been recorded in some parts of the project, for which the timetable has been adjusted by duplication of work and reduction of duration to reflect recovery of time.
