Bombardier files injunction, Gov’t halts LRT contract

The consortium headed by Canadian manufacturer Bombardier, one of the companies that bid for the Macau Light Rail Transit (LRT) system, has filed an injunction for suspension of the administrative effects of the award to supply the rolling stock and the system for the first phase of the LRT.
Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On had signed the paperwork granting the contract to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries last year, which was due to be finalised soon, but the process must now be suspended until further notice.
The issue was brought to public attention by Portuguese language newspaper Hoje Macau yesterday, and the information was later confirmed by Macau Daily Times.
The injunction, MDTimes was told, was filed on Friday with Macau’s Second Instance Court, and it asks the Government to refrain from doing any administrative action related to the award of the LRT’s first phase to Mitsubishi.
According to a source, Macau’s Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On had only one option, that was to “exercise due diligence with Transportation Infrastructure Office (GIT) to immediately stop any action related to the LRT public tender”.
And that was precisely what has been done. Late yesterday, the GIT released a statement confirming that the consortium formed by Bombardier and China Road and Bridge Corporation had lodged an injunction with the Second Instance Court “asking for the suspension of the administrative effects of the dispatch signed by the Chief Executive”.
“According to the procedures stated in the law, GIT must now suspend the related work,” it stressed. However, it did not say whether or not the Government has filed any appeal.
Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was awarded the MOP 4.688 billion LRT rolling stock contract last December, and secured it when it paid the bank guarantee to the Government on January 7. The Administration then officially notified the companies that lost to Mitsubishi, who had two months to appeal the decision.
Japan’s Mitsubishi beat two rival bids made by the partnership between Bombardier and China Road and Bridge Corporation and a joint venture between Siemens and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation.
Aside from the injunction, no appeals have been filed by either of the two bidders.
Coincidentally, the news about the injunction and the subsequently suspension came out on the same day that a dispatch signed by the Chief Executive was published on the Official Gazette approving the contract with the Japanese company. However, the dispatch did not state the date on which the contract should be signed.
According to yesterday’s dispatch, the Government should pay over MOP 491 million to Mitsubishi this year, increasing it to MOP 643 million next year. A total of MOP 3 billion would be paid in 2013 and 2014, and for the three years after that the installments should be MOP 425 million, MOP 21 million and MOP 10 million, respectively.
In yesterday’s statement, GIT said it is still studying the related documents, and it will announce the next step “in due time”.
However, it added, “Following a preliminary assessment, [the injunction] will not have a great impact on the project’s full development.”               

T.A.