The tender for the new Tongelreep has failed as only one business registered.
The problem is not that there is only the one tenderer. It is that they exceeded the budget of the Eindhoven Municipality by more than EUR9 million. And that was not even for the construction of the entire Tongelreep. Efforts have been made to cut down within the framework set by the Municipality. Even then, the registered tender did not come close to the available budget.
This means that the tender is now closed. This is according to a letter City Councillor for Sports, Stijn Steenbakkers, (CDA) sent to the City Council on Wednesday morning. An external consultant is now being hired to see whether all the new plans for the Tongelreep can be realized for the budgeted EUR19.2 million. And if that does not work, what can be built for the reserved money.
Expensive delay
According to the Municipality, it is mainly the shortage in the construction market and the higher costs for staff and materials that have affected the tender. The lack of multiple bidders also caused a lack of competition and, therefore, possibly a higher tender.
Starting a new tendering procedure takes not only a lot of time but also entails the necessary extra costs. Hiring the external advisor who must first complete his investigation, also causes additional costs and delays. In May it became clear that part of the plans had to go back to the drawing board because of substantial budget overruns.
The City Council must, therefore, make a new decision about the future of the Tongelreep swimming pool. When that decision can be made is still completely unclear. In any case, all new construction plans will surely incur significant delays.
Source: www.studio040.nl
Translated by: Chaitali Sengupta
Edited by: Melinda
