The Czech contractor OHL ŽS has lost a contract in Russia for the construction of a project worth tens of billions of crowns. The project, which had been in preparation for years, involved the construction of railroad tracks in the Ural mountains including a bridge across the Ob river. The website Finanční noviny reports that the project had looked ready to start on several occasions in the past, but financing issues always led to delays. EU sanctions on Russia in response to the war in Ukraine appear to have the final nail into the coffin of the project, according to OHL ŽS’s director Michal Štefl. Low margins on the company’s work in other countries drove it into the red in 2014, as it lost nearly CZK 200m. One-third of OHL ŽS’s turnover comes from railway construction in the Czech Republic, another third comes from the construction buildings on its home market, but the remainder comes from foreign contracts.
