Bulgaria really became a clown this time, shooting itself in the foot, giving up China and choosing another company, as a result, not only the high-speed rail was gone, but even the early investment was wasted.
Now we have to face not only international ridicule, but also the anger of the domestic people, which is the end of listening to the EU, which is really a "hearty" bidding.
The content of this article is stated from reliable sources, and it is repeated at the end of the article, but in order to improve the readability of the article, the details may be polished, please read sensibly, for reference only!
Forced to withdraw from the bid
It was supposed to be a win-win situation, but CRRC was forced to withdraw from Bulgaria's high-speed rail bid due to pressure from the European Union, so what is going on?
It turned out that the country's high-level decided to bid for the construction of high-speed rail from all over the world after deliberation, knowing that Bulgaria is only a small country, and there are few cities with development potential in the country.
So they needed an opportunity, and in the end they chose to build high-speed rail, which will connect the cities on the line and strengthen communication with each other, so as to stimulate economic development.
After this news came out, it immediately attracted the attention of many companies, after all, the profit of building a high-speed rail is still very good.
And the most important thing is not profit, but to improve the company's international reputation through this project, which is very beneficial for the company's future development.
Therefore, many companies have prepared materials to go to the bidding, and at the bidding meeting, the mainland's CRRC has been noticed by Bulgaria at a low price.
The various companies present at the time actually planned to give up after hearing this price, because the price was so low that the company behind them would definitely not agree.
Just when everyone thought that the dust was about to settle on the matter, the European Union jumped out to stir up the situation, they said that the low price of CRRC must have been supported by the Chinese government, and forced CRRC to withdraw from the bid under the pretext that CRRC had huge subsidies.
This result caught many companies off guard, and they didn't expect the EU to really be so shameless and personally target a company, but in any case, CRRC's exit has become a fact.
This gave other bidders an opportunity to restart their bidding, and Spain's Talgo won the project with a bid of 620 million euros.
It is nearly twice as expensive as CRRC's bid, but the Bulgarian government still pretends to be very happy, after all, it has spent almost 300 million euros in vain, and no one can be happy.
Bad luck Bulgaria
But after all, the money has been spent, and there is no way to be unwilling, so I can only hope that Talgo can give them a satisfactory answer, but when the time comes, Talgo gives a reply that makes Bulgarian blood pressure soar.
The promised high-speed rail could not be delivered, you must know that for this high-speed rail, the Bulgarian government is looking forward to the stars and the moon, but it has obtained such a result.
The Bulgarian government is naturally very angry, after all, the news has been released a long time ago, and they have made a lot of preparations for future development, and the cities on the route are also ready, but the other party is dove.
As a result, the government could only announce the cancellation of the project, but the money spent was real, and for a time the Bulgarian government was questioned by the domestic public, and its credibility was greatly reduced.
And Talgo's international reputation has also plummeted, originally they wanted to use the high-speed rail to make their reputation more famous, but it turned out to be like this, and whether anyone will cooperate with them in the future is a question.
In the end, there was no winner in Bulgaria's high-speed rail project, and the mainland company was eliminated by the European Union, and the unlucky guy did not get the high-speed rail they wanted to develop the economy, but also lost a lot of money, and the previous preparations were all in vain.
And Talgo will not only face the cost of reparations, the company's reputation will also plummet, and if a country wants to build high-speed rail in the future, they may be the first to be eliminated.
Talgo was able to win the bid because of their cheap price, although it was cheaper than CRRC, and this matter also told countries around the world a truth, every company dares to offer low prices, but whether they can complete the order on time is not necessarily, and China is an exception.
The mainland often gives foreign investment, taking advantage of low prices to win a large area of overseas markets, and the mainland's high-speed rail construction technology accumulation is very strong, and scientific researchers also have the ability to solve different materials and designs required for different terrains.
Low price does not necessarily mean good, low price and good quality are what every country and company pursues, and low prices cannot always be taken.
Countries all over the world know that the things built on the continent are of good quality, so why would other countries choose the high price rather than choose us.
One of the important reasons is that the price offered by mainland companies is too low, in other words, it breaks the market price set by various companies, for example, other companies have to add 100 million, and you come up and say that I only need 30 million or 50 million, then these companies will definitely hold a grudge against us.
The same is true for this bid, the EU has finally seized an opportunity, and naturally has to find ways to suppress it.
epilogue
This bidding tells us a truth, the term value for money is prevalent in some countries, but not necessarily in the EU, and they will do whatever it takes to suppress mainland companies for their own interests.
Therefore, when it is time to make a high price, you can't blindly think about good quality and low price, not to mention, to make money from foreigners, you can't make a little bit of money.
This article is based on a report by Euractiv on Bulgaria canceling its largest recovery tender