RBBN AGM discussed Rail Baltica procurements

Rail Baltica Business Network Estonia (RBBN) held its annual general meeting on 21.06.2022 in Tallinn, where the annual report for the previous year was approved and the Rail Baltica construction procurements were discussed in the context of the dramatically changed construction market.

Anvar Salomets, Chairman of the Management Board of Rail Baltic Estonia OÜ, Arvo Keller, Director of the Civil Engineering Division of Merko Ehitus AS and Sandor Elias, Attorney at Law of TRINITI law firm participated in the discussion panel.

Anvar Salomets stressed that despite the recent drastic price increases on the construction market, the Rail Baltica construction tenders are proceeding according to plan, the interest shown by the construction companies so far in the tenders has been sufficiently high and the division of the construction of the new railway into smaller sections and objects has been fully justified from the contracting authority’s point of view. He added that the Rail Baltica organisation has taken into account the general increase in construction prices and is therefore prepared for more dynamic procurement solutions in the future, such as the indexation of certain price components, open book tenders, etc..

Arvo Keller predicted that the current overheating of the construction market and the problems in the supply chains of certain materials are likely to ease in the second half of this year and that, as a result of decreasing demand, there will also be more competition for new large-scale contracts.

Sandor Elias noted that the rapidly changing market situation is forcing contracting authorities to increasingly use more dynamic procurement solutions, but fortunately Estonian procurement laws are flexible enough to this regard.

Tõnis Tamme, board member of the RBBN and partner at law firm TRINITI, summed up the annual meeting by saying that the interest of businesses in the megaproject is growing, as confirmed by the two new members Liwathon Estonia and Katoen Natie joining the business network last year. The fact that the Rail Baltica project is now in the construction phase has attracted increasing business interests towards the RB, and as the construction progresses, more and more of the companies encouraged to consider the new transport corridor in their future plans.

The Rail Baltica Business Network in Estonia was established in 2015 with the aim of bringing together Estonian companies interested in business opportunities related to Rail Baltica. The Business Network currently has 29 members.