VILNIUS – Lithuania's grand plan for the construction of an electric power line between its Soviet-style grid system and that used in Western Europe is again being started from scratch.
Just as the deadline neared for companies to enter their bids for participation in the construction of the project, recently sworn-in Economics Minister Eugenijus Maldeikis yanked the whole process back to square one in the last half of June.
Claiming the tender conditions were unclear and below international standards, Maldeikis announced the Lithuanian government will organize a third tender to find a company worthy of turning the planned project into reality.
Bids from companies competing in the government's second tender, which was announced in May, were due on June 21. Over ten companies including Britain's National Power, Germany's Siemens and Enron Europe showed interest in participating in the project.
But Maldeikis claimed the tender was chock-full of ambiguity and should be pulled. He seemed doubtful as to whether the bidding companies or the Lithuanian government itself would be able to grasp a full understanding of the tender's conditions.
"The ministry intends to prepare a new, clear-cut, transparent project according to international tender standards," Maldeikis told reporters.
Jurgis Gloubertas, head of the Economics Ministry's energy infrastructure department, explained that the ministry's head has the right to throw out the tender if something unclear turns up. The government is then to be informed to consider the next move.
"The government has not yet made a decision on what to do," Gloubertas told TBT. "[Minister Maldeikis] found some unclear details with the conditions of the tender, as did the state control committee. Now the Economics Ministry should prepare its information and suggestions for the government."
He said the government is scheduled to make a decision about the next step by July 25.
Beyond July 25, Gloubertas was not willing to hazard any guesses about future timetables. But delays in getting the power line project off the ground now seem almost routine.
In the spring of 1998, an American consortium called PowerBridge was chosen to take on the construction project, which is expected to cost between $450 million and $500 million. But after the consortium and the Lithuanian power company, Lietuvos Energija, began to squabble, PowerBridge's participation in the project dissolved this past spring.
With PowerBridge on its way out, Lietuvos Energija head Virmantas Jurgaitis said he expected the project to continue anyway - just with another company. But with a third tender now being considered, the process of finding that other company has not jumped to a quick start. Then again, perhaps the third time's the charm.
