On November 28, Colombian Transport Minister Gustavo Canal declared the current tender covering construction of the 8.6km long La Línea road tunnel null and void, since no bids had been received by the deadline. A new tender was to be issued by December 28. Although he ruled out any possibility of increasing the base price beyond US$274M, the minister did accept that there would have to be some changes to conditions governing insurance cover. Instead of having to find a single insurer willing to provide cover for the entire construction and putting into operation of the tunnel, companies could now be allowed to seek individual cover for construction, administration and fitting out stages.
However, both Skanska of Sweden and Bouygues Travaux Publics of France insist that the base price for the project is insufficient, the latter claims it should be in the region of US$350M. There is also concern with the general level of security in Colombia and with the perceived vagaries of the judicial system. ICA of Mexico and Ferrovial of Spain also cited similar worries.
The only company willing to bid for the project at the current price was the Colombian Coltúneles consortium, consisting of Conconcreto and Construcciones Civiles. However, it too had been unable to procure sufficient insurance coverage.
The bi-directional tunnel is due to open in 2008 with traffic projects of 5,280 vehicles a day.
