The Government Tenders Committee has selected the group for the fast lanes tender, which also includes the Afikim and Lapidot Capital companies. ■ The Ayalon lanes tender also includes the construction of two huge parking lots - in Rishon Lezion and Shefayim
The Government Tenders Committee has selected an operator for the NIS 2 billion tender for fast lanes. The group consists of the companies Electra (+ 1.18% 150520), Dan, Afikim Transport Services and Lapidot Capital (+ 1.82% 3138), TheMaker has been informed.
Other groups that competed in the tender are the joint group consisting of Minrav Holdings (+ 0.44% 43000), Metropolitan Public Transport, Menolead and Shasha Drivers; Shafir (-0.26% 2322); And the joint group consisting of the Housing and Construction Company (-0.71% 1544) and Egged Holdings.
The fast lanes project includes the addition of existing lanes that will be used for public transportation, carpools and transportation, along Road 2 (Coastal Road) and Road 20 (Ayalon Highway), from Road 57 to Rishon Lezion – south and north. The lanes will have a cumulative length of 75 km and will be built by means of the Ayalon Highway company. Private vehicle travel, in which a single driver or two passengers are traveling, will be allowed for a fee if the lane is vacant. The project is expected to be completed and open to gradual traffic in 2023, and to full activity in 2025. The concession period is for ten years. Signing of the contract is scheduled to take place by September.
The Ayalon Highway Tender also includes the construction of two huge parking lots in Rishon Lezion (approximately 4,000 parking spaces) and in Shefayim (approximately 7,000 parking spaces), as well as a transportation system consisting of ten lines from the parking lots to destinations in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. The tenders committee for the project is made up of representatives from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transportation, Ayalon Highways and the government company Inbal. The committee is headed by Senior Deputy Accountant General of the Treasury, Nehemiah Kind. The tender is the responsibility of the Accountant General of the Treasury because it is carried out by means of the PPP method (a combination of public and private sectors).
The construction company Danya Cebus, who submitted a bid together with the group, was supposed to be included as a shareholder in the group, but was removed from the tender due to indictments filed against it and against the management in several cases of fraud and collusion of tenders.
About a week ago TheMarker reported that after the hearing the tenders committee decided that Danya Cebus would not be allowed to participate in the current tender as a bidding group. At the same time, no position of principle has been adopted preventing Danya from bidding later in other tenders in the project - but as a contractor. The other companies in the group continued to compete as a group in which Danya Cebus would not have a share in the share capital, replacing Lapidot Capital with Danya Cebus.
Ophir Karni, CEO of Dan, said: “We thank the country for expressing confidence in the innovative and creative solution the group has proposed in planning the transportation and accessibility of the service, which is expected to significantly improve accessibility from the periphery to the metropolis and will be powered by electric buses only. Dan Group's winning the fast lanes project is another step in the group's strategy to expand its activities in the field of transportation infrastructure."