The manager rail Adif High Speed, has paid for 144,5 million euros to the construction of high-speed lines for damages, according to recognized THE COUNTRY's public company. This figure includes claims of contractors of works both in an administrative and judicial between 2016 and 2019. A recent report of the Court of Auditors on the suspension of contracts reveals that only 64 records for the period 2014-2017 construction companies demanded to Adif 162,7 million euros. Many claims are still open.

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they are allocated by draw, false competition and contracting: so was the poster of the works of the AVE Adif punishes the companies in the cartel of the BIRD and will retain a 10% in their contracts

The lack of planning and errors of the Administration explained that during construction of the Spanish high-speed train had to be cancelled many of the contracts that Adif and Adif-High-Speed (Adif-AV), the public company in charge of managing the rail infrastructure and stations, signed with companies of the sector. A recent report of the Court of Accounts detailed a few examples, such as the construction of an emergency exit of a tunnel in Tarragona that had to be suspended because no one had handled the administrative authorization for the use of explosives, and able to excavate the gallery.

The report mentions other cases of suspension of work because they needed jobs prior that were not even put out for bid. Highlights the case of the installation of a catenary, that had to stand because the way it was mounted. A “lack of coordination” and “poor planning” that the organ inspector accuses the Ministry of Development in one of the many reports that has been dedicated in recent years to examine the expansion of the high speed in Spain. In this case, the court focuses on the years 2014 to 2017 and only on contracts that are affected by suspensions. To do this, analyze a sample of 64 records, more than half of those who suffered these delays.

When the Administration suspends a contract already tendered, the companies affected can claim compensation if you consider that they have been alleged damages. Only in the 64 records analyzed by the court, the companies claim to Adif 162,7 million euros. At the close of the inspection, the public company had already paid 12.4 million. The rest of claims was still in process.

During the years analyzed by the Court of Accounts had 17 high-speed lines in construction. In the execution of 14 of them produced any record of suspension. The organ inspector examines what were the most common causes of paralysis. The most usual turned out to be the dependence of the progress of other jobs. The second reason alleged, were the modifications of the initial project. The lack of coordination between administrations, explains another part of the suspension. In the construction of the intermodal station of San Cristóbal de la Coruña was necessary to suspend the record because it was pending to sign an agreement with the City of A Coruña and the Xunta de Galicia. “It's important to highlight the lack of diligence that involves not having signed the aforementioned agreement prior to the award of the contract,” the report says.

The global amount of the compensation paid to the contractors of the BIRD, for all the claims —and all grounds, not just suspensions— in between 2016 and 2018, are distributed unequally, and growing. In 2016 were barely 7.8 million; in 2017, 37 million; that rose to 47.5 million in 2018, and the year he paid damages was 2019, with 52.2 million. “The figure may rise as there are processes that are held open for years,” added a spokesman for Adif.

In just three years, the public company was forced to triple the amount of the provisions to address the risks for cost overruns and disputes with the construction of the lines of AVE, the report highlights the court. The game went of 149,6 million euros in 2015 to 504,4 million in 2017. Just to pay disputes with businesses affected by records suspended Adif, estimated that could need to 104,7 million.

the allegations In the report, Adif ensures that the court chose for the sample contracts more problematic and states that the analysis “does not imply, in any case, that suspensions agreed not to be from”. “It would be advisable to”, concludes the Court of Auditors in its recommendations, “that Adif-AV planned actions preparatory of contracts, drafting of project as well as technical specifications, in a disciplined and organized that allows an execution of the work in less time and with less issues”.

Date Of Update: 23 January 2020, 04:00