Rizzani de Eccher SpA was the only company to bid on the project to construct the northernmost terminal of the planned Rail Baltica high-speed link, at a figure almost double the expected construction cost of the terminal and related infrastructure procurement, at €346 million.

Rail Baltica Estonia (RBE) operations manager Marko Kivila said: "The procurement committee is to continue with the procurement procedure according to its  rules, but, taking into consideration the doubling of the cost, we are working on this in parallel with the preparation of other scenarios, i.e. a new procurement procedure. For example, there exists the option to divide the procurement into parts," said RBE operations manager Marko Kivila.

"Considering the extensive impact of the war in Ukraine on the situation regarding the construction market and its price levels, plus the uncertainty of international bidders regarding our region, the lack of bids is to be quite expected. Naturally we hoped that there would be more bids and that more people would be interested in taking part in the building of this landmark object," Kivila said.

More than a dozen companies registered for the tender, and nearly 450 questions were asked through the course of the tender process, he added.

 A steps were taken to make the procurement successful on the first attempt, Kivila said.

"In order to ensure the success of the procurement and mitigate the risks, we took a number of preemptive steps both before the tender announcement and afterwards, in the light of the questions we received. Ee implemented cost indexation based on  the change in the construction price index, moved the project schedule, simplified the documents and repeatedly postponed the procurement deadline at the request of potential bidders," he outlined.

Rail Baltic Estonia announced its tender for the construction of the Ülemiste joint terminal in mid-March. 

 The total volume of the Ülemiste public transport terminal building and its nearby working land comes to 2.4 square kilometers. Along with the terminal itself, the project will cover rail infrastructure, access roads, a pedestrian subway, new tram and bus stops and parking areas.

The terminal should be completed in 2026, while deadline for the entire project is the first half of 2027. Its construction is being financed via various EU funds.

British architects Zaha Hadid designed the concept (see image).

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