The state public procurement commission (DKOM) said it dismissed complaints filed by the Austrian Strabag, Italian Astaldi, and Turkish Ictas construction companies which against the tender to build the Pelješac Bridge project on Monday (March 26).

Although DKOM’s ruling cannot be appealed, the law allows separate court proceedings against the decision to be launched within 30 days.

In January, the state-owned road management company Hrvatske ceste awarded the tender to the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) consortium. The bid by CRBC was valued at 2.6 billion kuna with VAT (€350 million), the lowest of all bids received. Losing bidders then filed complaints against the procurement process.

Strabag based their complaint on claiming that the Chinese state-owned CRBC had received subsidies from the Chinese government, which would be against European Union law, while Astaldi-Ictas complained to the decision to reject their bid due to insufficient ban guarantee.