The Slovak daily Pravda is reporting that the D4 bypass of Bratislava and the R7 express road will be far cheaper to build than was originally expected. Transport minister Ján Počiatek has revealed new pricing assumptions for the PPP project that the four consortiums bidding for the contract have submitted. The cheapest of the offers (from Konsorcium Nula, led by Spain’s Cintra) suggests a price of €997.5m for the 59 km of roads. The offer includes construction, financing and 30 years of road maintenance. Originally, the cost of the concession was expected to run to €4.5bn. “This transparent tender has generated far better prices than expected,” said Počiatek. He said an audit of the bids would now be carried out.
