Andris Lubāns, director of the Motor Traffic Department at the ministry, was approved as PV’s new chairman, while Latvian Railroads (LDz) financial director Maris Bremze and LDz employee Miks Persis were approved as board members.
The new executives have two weeks to reassess the procurement tender and its results, either approving the current winning bidder, Swiss firm Stadler, or finding grievous mistakes in the process and reconsidering the substantially less-expensive bid offer from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem rail vehicle manufacturer.
As reported, PV announced the selection of Swiss firm Stadler Bussnang to supply 25 electric trains in a 15-year lease agreement worth €150 million euros a week ago. The current fleet is rapidly nearing the end of its term of use, prompting the tender announcement in November 2013. The two other applicants in the tender, from Poland and South Korea, respectively, were both rejected according to the qualification requirements, leaving Stadler as the sole pretender to the bid. The second of the rejected bidders, South Korea’s Hyundai group, can still appeal the result within 15 days of Tuesday’s announcement.
PV was established in 2001 to separate domestic passenger services from other functions performed by the state-owned Latvijas Dzelzceļš (LDz). Although initially PV was a fully owned subsidiary of LDz, in October 2008 it was restructured into an independent state-owned company.
