The Ministry of Transport has begun working on a new tender to award the remaining work in the remodeling of the Puente del Centenario in Seville, after the temporary joint venture (UTE) led by Acciona communicated the unilateral termination of the contract. Behind the decision, which has caused an extraordinary political uproar in the city, would be the refusal of the department led by Óscar Puente to accept a second modification in the execution budget.
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“The work on the Puente del Centenario is neither stopped nor will it stop. We guarantee this emphatically from the ministry,” said the Secretary of State for Transport, José Antonio Santano, who confirms the termination request by the contracting UTE. “This is a situation contemplated by the Public Sector Contracts Law, which obliges the contracting company to finish the work that guarantees the full safety of the structure.”
The contract for the Seville bridge is one of those under investigation in the Cerdán case, where various awards made to Acciona, the Navarrese Servinabar (linked to the former PSOE Organization Secretary), and other small construction companies are being reviewed in exchange for alleged kickbacks to the triangle formed by Cerdán, former Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos, and his advisor Koldo García. On this point, Acciona sent a report to the Prosecutor’s Office dissociating the award of the Puente del Centenario from its relationship with Servinabar.
Santano assures that Acciona and its partners Freyssinet and Tecade will complete “the structure and the cable-stayed part of the bridge, while the ministry works on the file that will allow awarding the remaining work package as quickly as possible.”
The aforementioned Contracts Law allows the contractor to request termination when modifications exceed 20% of the award budget. In this case, the project was awarded for 86 million and had a first adjustment of 19.02%. A second modification of 19.92% was being attempted to be added to this overcost. The sum of both, 38.94%, exceeds the cited 20% that allows construction companies to execute the termination.
The works on the Seville infrastructure had a 68% progress last summer for its total completion, a milestone expected in 2024. At the start of the current year, the works were slowed down to near paralysis due to differences between Acciona (with its partners) and Transport over the required contract variation.
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The remodeling of the Puente del Centenario was entrusted to the Entrecanales family company, Freyssinet, and Tecade in May 2021, with a budget of 86 million and 27 months for execution. There were a total of seven bids in the running. The project has suffered delays and cost overruns, among other reasons due to inflation impacting the price of construction materials since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The project is approaching a cost of 120 million.
Besides the complexity of carrying out the works while the bridge remains open to traffic, the engineering firms Fhecor and Ideam, contracted by Transport, demanded a significant change in execution conditions by requiring a lighter steel to reduce the structure from 8,000 tons to 5,000 tons. All this has added to the execution difficulties.
The President of the Andalusian Government and candidate for re-election on May 17, Juanma Moreno, has stated that the stoppage of the bridge work is “a fiasco” and that finishing this infrastructure “will cost taxpayers much more money,” according to Efe. Moreno has emphasized that the project is tainted by “the plot of Koldo, Ábalos, and it is unknown who else wanted to participate in kickbacks.” The Andalusian Government has requested a report on the safety of the infrastructure.
The Mayor of Seville, José Luis Sanz, has demanded the dismissal of the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, for the “fiasco” of the works, and has sent a letter to the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, to request explanations for the stoppage and the execution times of this essential project for the Andalusian city.
In response, Secretary of State Santano has asked the regional president and the Seville mayor “not to trivialize safety issues related to infrastructures nor attack the Minister of Transport gratuitously over a contractual matter with no impact on the citizens.” The number two of Transport attributes the criticisms from Andalusia to the electoral campaign.
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