The Court of Final Appeal (TUI) said in a statement yesterday that it has rejected an appeal by Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On against a ruling by the Court of Second Instance (TSI) in March, which determined that the government would need to reassess the rival quotations submitted by seven construction companies for the construction of the depot of the Light Rail Transit (LRT).
The TSI ruling in March annulled the government’s contract with a company for the construction of the LRT depot.
According to Tuesday’s TUI statement, in his appeal concerning the TSI ruling, Chui insisted that the government had not wrongly calculated the marks for the quotations submitted by the seven companies.
In 2016, the government terminated the construction contract with the depot’s original contractor. The government then granted China Construction and Engineering (Macau) Company Limited the contract for the construction of the LRT depot in Cotai for 1.07 billion patacas in July 2016.
The Court of Second Instance (TSI) said in a statement in early March that it had accepted an appeal by one of the rival construction companies – China Road and Bridge Corporation – which claimed that the government had violated its own criteria when assessing the quotations and project proposals submitted by the seven companies.
According to March’s TSI statement, in its assessment the government gave the highest marks to China Construction and Engineering (Macau) Company Limited – 86.14 outof 100, while it gave China Road and Bridge Corporation 84.22, the second highest.
The government then granted the former the contract for the project.
According to the TSI statement, Chui waived an open bidding processin May 2016 for the construction of the LRT depot. The Transport Infrastructure Office (GIT) then subsequently asked the seven companies, including China Construction and Engineering (Macau) Company Limited and China Road and Bridge Corporation, to submit their quotations and proposals for
the construction of the project.
According to the TSI statement, China Road and Bridge Corporation subsequently filed an appeal with the Court of Second Instance. The company said that the government had misinterpreted a number of items in its assessment criteria when assessing the submitted quotations and project proposals which may have caused the government to come up with the wrong marks.
According to March’s TSI state- ment, the Court of Second Instance found that the government’s assessment process was “flawed”.
The court determined at that time that the government’s contract with ChinaConstruction and Engineering (Macau) Company Limited for the LRT depot project should be annulled and that the government would need to recalculate the marks for the quotations submitted by the seven companies.
In response to the TSI ruling in early March, Chui told reporters at that time that the government would file an appeal, adding that the construction of the project would meanwhile continue.
According to Tuesday’s TUI statement, Chui insisted that the government did not mistakenly assess items in the quotations submitted by the two companies – such as the companies’ previous experience in carrying out construction projects in Macau and their senior staff’s experience in working in the construction sector.
According to TUI´s statement, the Court of Final Appeal agreed with March’s TSI ruling and therefore determined that Chui’s appeal was unfounded.
Following the TUI ruling, it means that the government will need to reassess the seven quota-tions for the LRT depot project.
The Transport Infrastructure Office said in a statement last night that it was studying the TUI ruling and that it will carry out follow-up tasks in response to the ruling.
The government has repeatedly reaffirmed that the LRT Taipa section is scheduled to be operational next year.
The Taipa section, which includes Cotai, is 9.3 kilometres long and will have 11 stations.
The LRT depot is located at the far east of Cotai near Wynn Palace.
