The Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region has cancelled the contract for capital repairs of Savushkina Street for 1.3 billion rubles, which the Directorate of Transport Construction (DTC), subordinate to the Committee for the Development of Transport Infrastructure (KRTI), concluded in October of last year with ZAO Sintez, according to court materials.

The tender was first announced on April 30, 2013, but the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) cancelled its results twice. In July, a repeat tender was announced, in which five companies participated. ZAO Sintez was admitted to the tender, and became the winner. FAS cancelled the tender results based on complaints from ABZ-Dorstroy, GSK and Buer. But DTS appealed the order in the Moscow arbitration court, and when the court suspended the order's operation until a decision was made as security, the management entered into a contract with Sintez.

The FAS challenged the actions of DTS and this week the court declared the contract null and void, according to the arbitration materials.

Since June, DTS has been trying to terminate the contract with Sintez in court, so it will not challenge the decision, said a representative of the Committee on Transport Infrastructure. According to her, the management is terminating the contract in order to adjust the repair project and transfer funds to priority objects. Sintez does not want to terminate the contract, and DTS cannot do this unilaterally, so it went to court, the representative of the committee adds. It was not possible to contact Sintez yesterday.

According to the documentation, the winner of the competition must replace utility networks, road surfaces, and reconstruct tram tracks. Work on the site has not yet begun; the contractor is waiting for a court decision, says a representative of the KRTI. A decision on the timing of a new competition has not yet been made, she adds.

It takes about eight months to change the project and approve it, and another two months will be spent on competitive procedures, if there are no new appeals, estimates Kirill Ivanov, CEO of the Dormost Association. Recently, the main reason for major repairs has been the replacement of networks, not the deterioration of the road surface, he clarifies. If work on the site has not yet begun, the condition of the street most likely allows it to be used while all the preparatory procedures are underway, says Ivanov. According to him, major repairs are a profitable activity for road workers, but they require interaction with monopolists and extensive documentary support for the construction.

Sintez lost a contract worth 1.3 billion rubles.