Procurement of new low-floor 50 CNG buses, CNG fueling stations and maintenance equipment in the City of Gaziantep in Turkey.
Project context:
The EBRD provided a senior loan of €12 million to the City of Gaziantep to finance up to 50 new low floor compressed natural gas (CNG) buses, a CNG fuelling station and maintenance equipment. The investment was part of the City’s plan to integrate the public transport system by providing feeder bus lines to the newly launched light rail transit system. The project has enabled further public transport integration through the development of a new transport master plan, revision of the existing route scheme and tariff reform.
Aspiro role:
- We set up the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) including all relevant municipal departments’ representatives and coordinated their work and needed activities
- We defined the procurement strategy of the 50 CNG buses tender following market research and best practice in tenders under EBRD rules (EBRD PP&R)
- We executed the tender on behalf of the PIU, as a 2-stage tender for goods: 7 bus manufacturers pre-qualified and 3 submitted proposals from which the winner was selected using 10-year TCO-based evaluation method
- At the same time, we monitored the tendering and construction of a CNG filling station (under Turkish national procurement rules) with the aim to align the delivery of CNG buses with completion of the filling station
- The 50 buses were delivered one week after the filling station was ready, started operating immediately, and the EBRD loan was fully disbursed 6 months ahead of schedule
- Gaziantep metropolitan municipality requested Aspiro’s presence in Gaziantep to be extended to cover the quarterly reporting and support planning and development of new related investments
- We prepared a concept paper on establishing Gaziantep Energy Agency, a body to be responsible for implementing Gaziantep’s climate change action plan
- We defined an infrastructure investment programme for a planned suburb of 200,000 inhabitants estimated at 2.7bn EUR, and the possible options for financing them
- We identified savings potential for an ESCO programme for municipal public buildings
Client testimonial:
“Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality has highly benefitted from technical assistance services provided by Aspiro during past years. We especially value proactive risk management, smooth project implementation and detailed guidance and assistance in project monitoring and reporting in compliance with EBRD loan conditions.”
Ahmet Ertürk, Head of Foreign Affairs Department,
Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality