Mexico City, May 29.- The Navy has declared the tenders for the rehabilitation of more than 700 bridges and over 580 kilometers of railway line void, which will delay the development of this priority project of the Andrés Manuel López Obrador administration. Through Compranet, the naval institution announced the announcement of the tenders.
This is the case of the ruling related to the rehabilitation of the railway track for the comprehensive project development in the section running from Ixtepec to Ciudad Hidalgo. Semar rejected the bids because the bidding firms did not present a letter of commitment regarding the leasing of machinery necessary to carry out the works, and their construction processes do not correspond to what is required by the authorities.
According to the corresponding tender decision, it was also found that the proposals did not correspond to the execution period established in the bidding rules, or they did not submit documents proving the capacity to carry out similar works.
Due to the qualifications obtained by the only companies that could meet the technical requirements and economic proposals, out of five competing companies, only ICA Constructora, in joint participation with ICA Constructora de Infraestructura, and Mota-Engil México, in joint participation with Nexumrail, were considered.
However, "the bidding process is declared void because the proposals submitted and stated do not meet the requirements requested in the call for proposals," and those that did technically demonstrate the feasibility of carrying out the works, "their input prices are unacceptable, as they exceed the call for proposals' base budget."
The tenders established conditions for the rehabilitation of 459 kilometers of track, 12 stations, and 526 bridges on the stretch from Ixtepec, Oaxaca, to Ciudad Hidalgo, Chiapas; as well as the 328 kilometers from Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, to Palenque, Chiapas; and the 87 bridges and nine stations along this route.
Last March, during a working tour of the state of Chiapas, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced that the Navy would be in charge of the Trans-Isthmus Train project, and reported that it would be "an investment for Chiapas alone, of approximately 30 billion pesos, for freight and passenger trains."
He added: "We're already close to 65 percent complete in the modernization of the Isthmus train. We have five sections open there, and progress is being made; we're already over 90 percent complete on one or two sections, and most importantly, we've secured the budget from the customs trust to modernize the two tracks from Coatzacoalcos to Palenque, which were left behind, and from Ixtepec to Hidalgo."
