Renovation of Bolhão Market to Cost €22.4 million

8 November 2017

A contract to restore the Bolhão market was awarded for 22.4 million euros and will take about two years. Work is expected to begin in early 2018.

The Porto City Council announced on its website that the construction, the focus of a public tender that was initiated in December of last year with a base value of 25 million euros, has now been awarded to Alberto Couto Alves, SA and Lúcio da Silva Azevedo & Filhos, SA, for 22,379,000 euros, with an overall execution period of 720 days [about 24 months, i.e. two years].”

The council added that it submitted a “second application for community funds” for “an investment of €7,406,647.06″ towards the restoration of the Bolhão. The second tranche would join funds from a previously approved application that ” resulted in a community contribution of €1,566,263.27 (from an eligible investment of €1,842,662.67).”

The city council stated that the project was initially scheduled to begin in September, but was planned for early 2018 due to “delays in the tender phase due to litigation between competitors that forced, by law, a suspension of the process.”

The international tender to renovate the Bolhão “attracted the interest of 41 business groups and resulted, in a first phase, in the submission of 12 applications.”

“The application of the technical and financial requirements established in the procedure resulted in the selection of eight applications and, in a second phase, the candidates were invited to submit a proposal. Only five tenders were received, one of which was excluded by the competition’s jury,” it added.

“The proposal analysis phase was completed on the 3rd [Friday], with the approval of the final report by the Board of Directors of GO Porto [Municipal Public Works Management Company]. At this moment the qualification phase of the grouping is underway,” the municipality explained.

The temporary market that has been housing the Bolhão merchants during the 24 months of construction has been completed since September, referring to a provisional structure created by the municipality with an area of more than 5,000 square meters,” at the La Vie Shopping Center, on Rua Fernandes Tomás.

During a visit to the temporary market on September 20, while campaigning in Porto’s municipal elections, the current president, Rui Moreira, highlighted the temporary market’s “excellent conditions,” which was built to accommodate eighty-six merchants from the Bolhão, welcoming the adhesion of 80% of traders from the interior of the market.

During the visit, Cátia Meirinhos, the administrator of GO Porto, reported that 74 traders from the interior of Bolhão moved to the temporary market, of which 61 were butchers, fruit and vegetable stalls, a fishmonger, four restaurants, a knife sharpener and eight porters.

Of the current 100 traders in the market, 25 chose to cease trading, principally due to their age.

Of the current 40 shopkeepers based outside of the Bolhão, 12 moved to the temporary market, while others found solutions elsewhere, and about nine decided to close up shop at the time.

Original Story: Lusa / Diário Imobiliário

Translation: Richard Turner