2023-08-22 17:52:13
August 22, 2023 Today at 7:51 PM
The French construction company Colas has injected an additional 70 million euros into its Belgian subsidiary to clear the losses suffered on the tramway project in Liège, which should run in 2025.
As we know, the many obstacles encountered by the construction of a tram line in Liège, which is to link the Sclessin football stadium and the new district of Coromeuse, have totally derail the construction schedulewon in 2018 by TramArdent, a consortium made up of Colasfrom the Spanish tram manufacturer CAF and the Dutch infrastructure fund DIF. The contract for the design, construction, financing and maintenance for 27 years of the tram line, which amounts to more than half a billion euros, thus causes heavy losses to operators.
79
millions of euros
TramArdent obtained from the Walloon government that it pay the consortium 79 million euros, in several installments, to allow the project to progress
Bailout and compensation
Its French parent company was therefore forced to bail it out. Last December, Colas carried out a capital increase of 70 million euros to absorb 30 million euros of losses, according to the annual report. And just before the summer, TramArdent obtained from the Walloon government that it pay the consortium 79 million euros, in several installments, to allow the project to progress. Before Parliament, Walloon Infrastructure Minister Philippe Henry (Ecolo) said that the consortium had initially asked for almost three times more.
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Tram in Liège: the Region advances 79 million euros to end the nightmare
According to the agreement, works in the city center should be completed in November. But the tram tests will only start at the end of October 2024, just after the municipal elections. The first tram should cross Liège at the end of January 2025, more than two years later than planned.
It should be noted that Colas refrained from applying for the two new contracts.
In the meantime, the Walloon Region has decided to extend the tram line by several kilometers. Stadsbader Contractors and Galère (owned by Thomas & Piron), two former units of the Dutch company BAM which has already lost its breeches on the Brabo2 tram project in Antwerp, have won the contract for the extension to Herstal in the north.
The contract for the southern extension to Jemeppe has not yet been awarded. It should be noted that Colas refrained from applying for these two new contracts. His spokesperson declined to comment on the decision.
A long story
The Liège tramway project has a long story. It was in 2008 that the Walloon government decided that a tram would run between Jemeppe and Herstal. He must be ready for the Expo that Liège hopes to host in 2017 (which will eventually take place in the Kazakh capital Astana).
In 2014, the Walloon government chose the MobiLiège consortium, made up of the contractor BAM and the tram builder Alstom. Following criticism from Eurostat, the Walloon government relaunched the call for tenders and the contract was awarded to TramArdent. This consortium will therefore complete the first part of the tramway line 17 years after the initial decision.
Colas Belgium
Belgian branch of the French construction firm Colas, subsidiary of the Bouygues group.
Five entities in Belgium.
Specialized in road works.
Turnover (2022): 149 million euros.
Net loss: 19 million euros.
Numbers: more than 1,000.
Main contractor within the TramArdent, which builds the new tram line in Liège.
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