Infrabel did not put out any tenders for concreting work on part of the “Diabolo” link. The manager of the Belgian railway system must now reimburse subsidies paid by the European Commission, L’Echo reported on Friday. The European Accounts Court “pointed out that attributed contracts should have been subject to a tender”, admitted Frédéric Sacré, the Infrabel spokesman.
This all happened as part of the Diabolo project – the Brussels-Antwerp junction via the Zaventem airport. A civil engineering society had been granted a concreting contract for part of the Diabolo link. The problem is that extra work needed to be added on during the project. Instead of putting out tenders again, Infrabel thought it could sign for this work with its sub-contractor of its own accord. As a result, Infrabel will lose 23,497 euros in subsidies. This sum will be deducted from the last payment of the EU contribution to the project. That payment will be 1.3 million out of a total of 13.2 million in European subsidies, paid between 2007 and 2015.
(Source: Belga)
