By Jaroslaw Adamowski
May 23 – Seven consortia of construction companies have submitted bids to build a new stadium for Poland’s Widzew Lodz. The facility will have a capacity of between 15,000 and 18,000.
The lowest bid, for PLN 120 million (€28.6m), was placed by local construction company PRMM Lodz. The highest bid, worth PLN 211.6 million (€50.4m), was submitted by a consortium formed by Poland’s SKB and Germany’s Baugeselschaft Walter Hellmich.
Other bidders include consortia of Porr Poland and NDI, Warbud and Eurovia Poland, Mirbud and Mota-Engil Central Europe, as well as bids by Budimex, and Mostostal Warsaw.
The city of Lodz will now evaluate the bids in relation to their compliance with the auction terms.
The investment in a new stadium comes at a time when Widzew is trying to avoid relegation from the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of Poland’s professional football league.
Should the club get relegated to the Liga I, Lodz, which nominally remains Poland’s second largest city with a population of more than 700,000, will lose its only representation in the Ekstraklasa. LKS, the city’s second major football club, currently plays in the IV Liga, and was relegated from the Ekstraklasa in 2012.
The latest tender marks a third attempt by the Polish city to build a new stadium for the troubled football club which has been struggling to stay financially afloat. A lease deal between Lodz and Widzew is to be signed for a period of up to 30 years.
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