They say that the AVE high-speed train from Madrid to Barcelona is one of the fastest in the world. Considering how much it cost to build some parts of that route, it better be. The Tribunal de Cuentas, a high court in Spain, is investigating OHL Construction for inflating how much money it needed to build the route between Hospitalet and La Tarassa by 230%.
When OHL was in charge of this project in 2005, the cost was set at 107.6 million euros and it was expected to be finished in twenty months. But after the budget was stretched several times, the projected cost rose to 354.7 million euros, which is an incredible and unjustifiable difference. The government should exercise more control over public works bidding and nix project changes that end up costing taxpayers.
