In the last days of December, the Port of Gdansk Authority issued a call for tenders for a concept for the construction of the Central Port. The bids have just been opened. The PGA says it will select from among five bids from experienced companies.
One enterprise (ILF Consulting Engineers Polska) and four consortia (1. Industria Project and Europrojekt Gdansk; 2. Sweco Consulting and Wuprohyd; 3. IDOMInzynieria, Architektura i Doradztwo, IDOM Consulting, Engineering, Architecture, S.A.U., and Arcadis i Berenguer Ingenieros S.L.; 4. PROJMORS Biuro Projektow Budownictwa Morskiego and Mosty Gdansk) submitted tenders. The contractor will have 10 months to prepare a complete concept for the Central Port.
"It is a significant step forward for the construction of the Central Port. The opening of bids and the later selection of the contractor is a clear signal that we are determined and want the Central Port to be built. It is important for us that the concept should be developed with utmost care, so we will examine each offer carefully," said Lukasz Greinke, President of the Board of the PGA SA.
The subject of the tender is the preparation of a comprehensive, multidisciplinary concept for the development of the Central Port. The project is to include an analysis of the demand for cargo and passenger sea transport, both domestic and European, or global, as well as forecasts for long-term changes in the demand for this transport until 2050. The company that will be selected to prepare the concept will also be required to make an inventory of the existing technical infrastructure (road, rail, and hydrotechnical).
The PGA requires the contractor to have a team of experts including experienced architects, hydrotechnicians, and road and railway infrastructure specialists. Three variants of the concept for the Central Port are to be prepared. Each has to include a map and a description, one of them also with a contractor's recommendation.
"The concept has to be backed up by extensive analyses. We want to have detailed knowledge on the costs and benefits, ways of staging the investment, level of interference in the existing road and railway system, and the safety of vessel manoeuvring and mooring. It is a very complex project," explained Marcin Osowski, Vice-President of the Board and Director of Infrastructure at the PGA.
The Central Port is a flagship investment of the Port of Gdansk Authority. Ultimately, several terminals for various purposes are to be built, including a bulk cargo terminal, a general cargo terminal, a passenger terminal, and a ro-ro type terminal. The investment is to be carried out as a public-private partnership and assumes gradual construction of more terminals, depending on the needs of private operators. The Central Port has already received governmental support, among others from the Ministry of Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation, and Prime Minister Beata Szydlo.