Israel National Roads Company Ltd. will publish a new NIS 3-4 billion tender for lateral Road 531 between Kfar Saba and Herzliya tomorrow. Sources inform ''Globes'' that, for the first time, the Roads Company's tender will take into account construction time of the project, and not just the lowest price among the bids. Bidders will get credit for promising to finish the project sooner.
Road 531 will stretch for 15 kilometers from Road 6 (the Cross-Israel Highway) near Kfar Saba in the east, to Road 2 (the Coastal highway) near Herzliya in the west. The project includes a railway line and a Mekorot National Water Company pipeline along the route, as well as extending Road 20 (the Ayalon highway) north from Herzliya toward Kibbutz Shefayim.
To prevent the submission of losing bids, the project will be divided into six small tenders, which will be completed in 24 to 39 months, with final completion scheduled for the end of 2015. The objective is to make it easier for contractors to obtain financing, and will ease the threshold conditions for the bidders, and make it possible for smaller contractors to win.
The sources said that Israel's largest contractors, including Danya Cebus Ltd. (TASE: DNYA), Ashtrom Properties Ltd. (TASE:ASPR), and Shikun u'Binui Solel Boneh Building and Infrastructure Ltd. intend to bid in the tender.
Shafir Civil and Marine Engineering Ltd. won the previous tender for Road 531, with a bid of NIS 2.4 billion, but later cancelled the project.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 16, 2011
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