Bucharest City hall terminates contract for 100 trolleybuses with Turkish contractor

Bucharest City Hall terminated the EUR 43 million (VAT not included) contract with Turkish supplier Bozankaya for 100 trolleybuses, signed on March 31.

The City Hall’s representatives claimed that the Turkish company failed to supply the homologation documents within the 45-day allowed, Economica.netreported.

It remains unclear how the Turkish company could attend the tender, win it, and sign the contract without all the needed documents proving its products met the requirements.

Former mayor Gabriela Firea lost the local elections in September, and her rival, Nicusor Dan, was validated this week as the new mayor of Bucharest. Many of the tenders organized during Firea’s terms by the municipality’s public transport company (RATB) were won by obscure producers, mostly from Turkey, which prompted criticism related to the procedures.

For example, the City hall had awarded the recently terminated contract following a tender in which the Turkish group was the only bidder. The trolleybuses were supposed to come with automatic air conditioning, large passenger transport capacity, special functions for people with disabilities, wireless internet for passengers, and USB sockets for fast charging mobile devices. The Turkish supplier also promised a high-performance computer system to provide passengers with real-time travel information.

(Photo: Remus Grigore/ Dreamstime)