Independent lawyers: Vinci Aktor should have been fined 10m euros for terminating contract

Lawyers working for foreign law firms with offices in Romania, involved in public-private partnerships (PPP) across the world say Vinci-Aktor companies should have been penalised by the state because they unilaterally terminated the contract to build the Comarnic-Brasov motorway (55 km), at least in order to be able to cover costs incurred by organising the tender and in order to resume proceedings.
The contract to build Comarnic-Brasov motorway under concession was unilaterally terminated in April by French-Greek consortium Vinci-Aktor three months after the contract was signed, without paying any penalties to the Romanian state. The tender for building the motorway started back in 2007, with 12 consortiums from all over the world taking part. Vinci Aktor was announced as the winner in May 2009.
"Penalties need to cover the cost of the failed auction and the cost of relaunching it. It should typically range between 5 and 10 million euros. At the end of the day, any government wants to protect taxpayers from a failed tender," says Markus Piuk, partner with Austrian law firm Schoenherr si Asociatii, which has been involved in several PPP partnerships in Central and Eastern Europe.