DBFO fears on Hochtief M1 rethink

Hochtief is strongly rumoured to have pulled out of the bidding for the œ190 million M1-A1 DBFO road scheme. Although no reason has been given there is speculation that the massive cost of bidding - some are putting it as high as œ15-œ20 million - was a factor.

Three consortia are now left - the Tarmac/Laing jv, the Mowlem/GTM jv and the Trafalgar House/Wimpey jv.

The move will confirm contractors' fears that the private roads initiative could yet run aground.

This week contractors told CJ that they fear the four roads earmarked for evaluation for private finance in December may not actually be suitable for the DBFO treatment.

In particular two of the four - the A19 Norton-Parkway improvement and the A564 Doveridge bypass - are said to be too small to be let as private schemes.

Despite this there were hopes that these new DBFO roads would be given the go-ahead at a House of Lords debate last week. But these were scotched when no mention of the schemes was made.

'Roads minister John Watts told us that they were still being evaluated so I am sceptical about stories of them going ahead so soon,' said Jim Turner of the FCEC.

n A series of informal talks have been set up with leading contractors on a special union agreement covering Design Build Finance and Operate road contracts.

The discussions have been set up by Alan Black, national officer of the GMB union. He has approached more than a dozen contractors involved in DBFO consortia to review the implications of such contracts for industrial relations.

'I have had a very good response so far from about half of those approached,' he said this week.

'And I am setting up a series of meetings on a one-to-one basis.'