Klaipėdos Nafta's shareholder meeting on Friday gave the go-ahead for signing the contract worth 166.979 million litas (EUR 48.4m), including VAT, with a consortium of Kauno Dujotiekio Statyba (Kaunas Pipeline Construction) and Šiaulių Dujotiekio Statyba (Šiauliai Pipeline Construction), Klaipėdos Nafta said in a statement to the NASDAQ OMX Vilnius stock exchange.
The contract will only be inked after the 15-day suspension period imposed by the office has expired and there are no prohibitions on signing it. Under the contract, the work has to be completed by October 1, 2014. This deadline can be extended and the contract price can increase only in exceptional cases, the company said.
The Public Procurement Office last week put the signing of the contract on hold following a complaint from Germany's PPS Pipeline Systems, whose 192.182-million-litas bid to build the pipeline link was rejected.
PPS Pipeline Systems has recently filed a lawsuit over the tender, but says that it is not asking the court to suspend the procedure. Klaipėda Regional Court is to announce at the start of this week whether or not it has accepted the suit for hearing.
The German company said that the tender could have breached the Public Procurement Law.
