One of the last major outstanding issues is trying to be closed these days by the administration of Konstantinos Zervas shortly before he leaves the mayor’s office. This is about the completion of the tender for granting the controlled parking system to the municipality of Thessaloniki for the next five years.
This is a key issue for the city which has occupied the public debate, while in the last few days there have been reactions on behalf of the faction “Team for Thessaloniki” of the next mayor Stelios Angeloudis.
The competition is ongoing and is due to end in the coming weeks. The controlled parking system concerns the area of the 1st Municipal Community and main streets of the 3rd and 5th Municipal Communities and in particular 1,934 places for visitors and 7,230 places for permanent residents.
The total budget of the project amounts to 26 million euros (including VAT). One of the criticisms leveled at Mr. Zerva’s administration on this particular issue is that he significantly delayed the tender and is now attempting, a month before he leaves town hall, to close this serious issue.
It is indicative that the bidding process started a few weeks before the municipal elections (September 13) and the deadline for submitting bids was October 13, i.e. the last working day before the second round of elections. Finally, after a few days’ extension, the expiration of the deadline was set for October 23.
It is noted that the current contract had expired in May 2022. Therefore the tender should be done and completed much earlier. A 15-month extension was granted, until the middle of last September, on the grounds that the municipality was unable to deploy 130 municipal police officers to control illegal parking, as stipulated in the contract.
Another six-month extension is currently running to cover periods of the pandemic period in which the controlled parking system was put out of action.
One and only offer
Interest in the competition, which was international, was initially expressed by nine companies, including some well-known ones. In fact, most of them also submitted relevant questions and asked for clarifications on the content of the declaration.
However, for unknown reasons, when it came time to submit the bids, a single file was submitted. The remaining eight companies decided not to participate but neither to proceed with an objection or an appeal. The unique offer was submitted by the INTRAKAT company which still manages the specific project today.
During these days, the evaluation of the technical offer of the prospective contractor is carried out and within the next week the file of the financial offer will be opened. The declaration contains two or three provisions which are more favorable for the municipality compared to the previous one in 2017. Of course, the charge remains at the same level of 1.7 euros per hour, but the municipality administration is given the possibility to increase or decrease this price by 12%.
That is, the next municipal authority can reduce the fee even to 1.5 euros/hour, without financial burden for the municipality and without requiring the consent of the contractor. This is also what the users of the controlled parking system are asking for.
Specifically, in a survey carried out as part of the drafting of the declaration, the first thing that users ask for is the intensification of policing and the second is the reduction of parking costs.
The second improvement is that 60% of the revenue from the approximately 1,934 controlled parking spaces will go to the municipality and 40% to the contractor. In the current contract, the revenues were shared approximately half-and-half (50.5% by the municipality, 49.5% by the contractor).
At the same time, there is an obligation for the municipality to have municipal police officers to control offenders, but some flexibility is also provided as it is stated that this will be done “according to the capabilities of the municipality”.
The current contract states that the municipality should have 130 municipal police officers daily to control parking. It is clarified that all fines for illegal parking in the spaces (visitors or residents) of the controlled parking system are not distributed but go to the municipality’s coffers.
What does St. intend to do? Angeloudis
The issue of the concession of the controlled parking project is of great concern to the newly elected mayor Stelios Angeloudis as, among other things, he will essentially be called upon to implement a five-year contract, i.e. the duration of the next municipal term, without himself being able to intervene.
Spyros Vouia’s intervention in the last municipal council was indicative of the concern that prevails in the faction of the next municipal authority.
Mr. Vougias, who was elected as a municipal councilor with the “Team for Thessaloniki”, asked the Zerva administration not to proceed with the signing of the contract with the contractor, but to reach an agreement with the new administration. As he said, “a decision of the outgoing administration a month after the elections cannot bind the next administration for five years”.
According to information, Mr. Angeloudis is concerned about the case as a whole: The time of the tender, the one and only offer that was submitted as well as certain points of the announcement. He is monitoring the progress of the process and is expected in the coming days to make moves in the direction of optimizing the terms of the contract for the benefit of the municipality and the citizens.
However, there does not seem to be any question of canceling the tender since, among other things, there is no time frame for announcing a new one – and in this case the city would be left without a controlled parking system for several months.
*Published in “MtK” on 05.11.2023
One of the last major outstanding issues is trying to be closed these days by the administration of Konstantinos Zervas shortly before he leaves the mayor’s office. This is about the completion of the tender for granting the controlled parking system to the municipality of Thessaloniki for the next five years.
This is a key issue for the city which has occupied the public debate, while in the last few days there have been reactions on behalf of the faction “Team for Thessaloniki” of the next mayor Stelios Angeloudis.
The competition is ongoing and is due to end in the coming weeks. The controlled parking system concerns the area of the 1st Municipal Community and main streets of the 3rd and 5th Municipal Communities and in particular 1,934 places for visitors and 7,230 places for permanent residents.
The total budget of the project amounts to 26 million euros (including VAT). One of the criticisms leveled at Mr. Zerva’s administration on this particular issue is that he significantly delayed the tender and is now attempting, a month before he leaves town hall, to close this serious issue.
It is indicative that the bidding process started a few weeks before the municipal elections (September 13) and the deadline for submitting bids was October 13, i.e. the last working day before the second round of elections. Finally, after a few days’ extension, the expiration of the deadline was set for October 23.
It is noted that the current contract had expired in May 2022. Therefore the tender should be done and completed much earlier. A 15-month extension was granted, until the middle of last September, on the grounds that the municipality was unable to deploy 130 municipal police officers to control illegal parking, as stipulated in the contract.
Another six-month extension is currently running to cover periods of the pandemic period in which the controlled parking system was put out of action.
One and only offer
Interest in the competition, which was international, was initially expressed by nine companies, including some well-known ones. In fact, most of them also submitted relevant questions and asked for clarifications on the content of the declaration.
However, for unknown reasons, when it came time to submit the bids, a single file was submitted. The remaining eight companies decided not to participate but neither to proceed with an objection or an appeal. The unique offer was submitted by the INTRAKAT company which still manages the specific project today.
During these days, the evaluation of the technical offer of the prospective contractor is carried out and within the next week the file of the financial offer will be opened. The declaration contains two or three provisions which are more favorable for the municipality compared to the previous one in 2017. Of course, the charge remains at the same level of 1.7 euros per hour, but the municipality administration is given the possibility to increase or decrease this price by 12%.
That is, the next municipal authority can reduce the charge even to 1.5 euros/hour, without financial burden for the municipality and without requiring the consent of the contractor. This is also what the users of the controlled parking system are asking for.
Specifically, in a survey carried out as part of the drafting of the declaration, the first thing that users ask for is the intensification of policing and the second is the reduction of parking costs.
The second improvement is that 60% of the revenue from the approximately 1,934 controlled parking spaces will go to the municipality and 40% to the contractor. In the current contract, the revenues were shared approximately half-and-half (50.5% by the municipality, 49.5% by the contractor).
At the same time, there is an obligation for the municipality to have municipal police officers to control offenders, but some flexibility is also provided as it is stated that this will be done “according to the capabilities of the municipality”.
The current contract states that the municipality should have 130 municipal police officers daily to control parking. It is clarified that all fines for illegal parking in the spaces (visitors or residents) of the controlled parking system are not distributed but go to the municipality’s coffers.
What does St. intend to do? Angeloudis
The issue of the concession of the controlled parking project is of great concern to the newly elected mayor Stelios Angeloudis as, among other things, he will essentially be called upon to implement a five-year contract, i.e. the duration of the next municipal term, without himself being able to intervene.
Spyros Vouia’s intervention in the last municipal council was indicative of the concern that prevails in the faction of the next municipal authority.
Mr. Vougias, who was elected as a municipal councilor with the “Team for Thessaloniki”, asked the Zerva administration not to proceed with the signing of the contract with the contractor, but to reach an agreement with the new administration. As he said, “a decision of the outgoing administration a month after the elections cannot bind the next administration for five years”.
According to information, Mr. Angeloudis is concerned about the case as a whole: The time of the tender, the one and only offer that was submitted as well as certain points of the announcement. He is monitoring the progress of the process and is expected in the coming days to make moves in the direction of optimizing the terms of the contract for the benefit of the municipality and the citizens.
However, there does not seem to be any question of canceling the tender since, among other things, there is no time frame for announcing a new one – and in this case the city would be left without a controlled parking system for several months.
*Published in “MtK” on 05.11.2023
