Construction, Legislation, Lithuania

Milda Bucnyte, spokeswoman for Kaunas Regional Court, told the company lodged its appeal on Jan 20, asking the court to deem the unilateral contract termination null and void.

The court has not set the date for a court hearing yet.

Also, on Tuesday the court rejected Kayi Insaat's request to temporarily halt the payment of SEB bank's guarantee of 2 mln euros to the municipality. The decision can still be appealed with the Court of Appeal.

The Kaunas authorities decided to terminate the contract, signed in 2018 and worth 46 million euros, with the Turkish company in early January, with schedule delays cited as one of the reasons.

According to the municipality, the Turkish company had promised to bring 400 workers and a majority of construction equipment but has no such workforce so far and has rented equipment from Lithuanian subcontractors.

Alper Dedeoglu, a deputy project manager at Kayi Construction, told LETA/BNS then the work had stalled due to problems with the technical project.

53 Turkish citizens who worked on the project went on strike late last year over pay arrears.

According to the Kaunas authorities, around a quarter of the total work has been completed. Once the contract is terminated, the local authorities plan to call a new contractor tender.