A Lithuanian court has suspended the public bid for tenders to find someone to demolish the so-called Moscow House in Vilnius, after one of the bidders turned to the courts with a complaint.
The Lithuanian State Territorial Planning and Construction Inspectorate says that the court imposed interim measures.
“Court proceedings are continuing, and so the further work with procurement related to the demolition of the building at Juozapaviciaus Street 30 in Vilnius has been suspended,” the inspectorate noted in a statement. It added that an appeal has already been filed against the court order on interim measures and that it is preparing it response to the lawsuit that has been filed.
Because the procurement procedures have not been finalised and have been subject to a legal dispute, the inspectorate says it cannot comment further on the public tender or the bids that were submitted. Neither can it rank them provisionally or declare the cost of the demolition work.
“It is impossible at this stage to estimate when the procurement procedures will resume or when a contractor will be selected,” it argues. “It will all depend on court decisions and further progress in the proceedings.”
The inspectorate called for a bid for tenders to find a demolisher of the Moscow House who would also clean up the construction site. The agency said that the process will cost around EUR 1.846 million plus VAT.
The idea of a Moscow House in Vilnius appeared in July 2004, when the then mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzkhov, visited Vilnius in honour of the 750th anniversary of the coronation of King Mindaugas in the Lithuanian capital. There were also plans for a similar project in Moscow.
The Moscow House was to be a centre for culture and business aimed at creating good neighbourly relations between Vilnius and Moscow.
The Vilnius municipality issued a building permit for the building in 2008 at the corner of Rinktines and Juozapaviciaus streets, and work began. The idea for the centre, however, was gradually abandoned in the wake of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Source: BNS
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