Thursday, 09. February 2012

:: Home > Business > Audit Office to check Skylink cost overruns

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
30	31	1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	1	2	3	4

Add your event FREE

Today

Polls

no picture available

23. 10. 09. - 13:00

Audit Office to check Skylink cost overruns

By Lisa Chapman

A special team from the Audit Office (RH) will begin checking through cost overruns at the new Skylink terminal at Vienna International Airport (VIA) today (Fri).

RH President Josef Moser said a change in the law had finally made an audit possible and that he had already been in touch with VIA officials about an inspecation.

He said the six-person team would include experts on building construction, civil engineering, jurists and accountants. RH has 250 examiners at its disposal.

Moser said it was impossible to predict how long the audit would take since that would depend on what the team found during its work.

He added he would make a preliminary report about the audit available to VIA and its chief stockholders, the provinces of Vienna and Lower Austria, for their comments, which would be used in a final report.

If the audit began on schedule, Moser said, he would withdraw his request for clarification of RH�s competence by the Constitutional Court (VfGH) next week. VIA had denied RH permission to conduct an audit of the cost overruns last summer on the grounds that it was unclear whether RH had the authority to do so.

Moser said a change in the law on 19 October had provided for RH audits of firms that were de facto controlled by the state through financial or other economic or organisational measures. That was the case in regard to VIA, he claimed, since Vienna and Lower Austria together had a 40 per cent interest in it.

The RH president denied the audit would overlap with the investigation of Skylink by the public prosecutor�s office in Korneuburg, Lower Austria. "We have a different focus," he explained.

Skylink�s cost, originally estimated to be 400 million Euros, have sky-rocketed to 830 million Euros.

Meanwhile VIA officials recently said they were in "positive" talks with firms about further work on construction of Skylink. VIA suspended the work earlier this year after news of the huge cost overruns.

They added, however, that it was too soon to say when construction would resume, adding there was no indication that Skylink�s cost would exceed the projected sum of 830 million Euros.

The officials said they planned to have the work finished on time in 2011 for less than that amount.

Some media have speculated the final cost may exceed one billion Euros.

Opposition Freedom Party (FP�) leader Heinz-Christian Strache said last summer he suspected costs had risen because money was being secretly siphoned off to political parties.

Austrian Times

Your comment to this article :

(will be approved by an editor before going online)

your name
your location
your message
Not for publication:
your mail
How many vertical lines or which Text (from left to right) do you see in this image:
input for security check

Tag cloud:
estimated overruns resume finally Vienna rocketed Austria Skylink construction originally suspended Audit Moser Korneuburg Euros focus further President positive audit

Latest News

Set up tax on financial transactions soon, says Katzian
The head of the Association of Private Employees (GPA-djp) has called for a quick introduction of a tax on financial transactions.

P�hringer rejects U-turn on rightist ball
Young Social Democrats (SP�) have appealed to Upper Austrian Governor Josef P�hringer not to attend the Burschenbundball in Linz this Saturday.

FP� under fire after trip to Grozny
The Freedom Party (FP�) has been harshly criticised for meeting with Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov.

WKO boss wants pension age hike incentives
Federal Economy Chamber (WKO) President Christoph Leitl has identified attempts to raise the average retirement age as the key issue regarding Austria�s budget.

Woman and child run over in Vienna
A woman and child have died in a road accident in Vienna, Austria. The lorry driver was making a right turn when he drove into a group of pedestrians leaving a 59-year-old and a 12-year-old dead. The mother of the school girl was left with serious injuries.

Schlecker says Austrian jobs are safe
The son of Schlecker founder Anton Schlecker has claimed that the company has no plans to sell its Austrian affiliate.

SP� sees smaller parliament as key signal
The general secretary of the Social Democrats (SP�) has argued his support for a reduction of the size of the parliament.

Austrian food to feature in organic trade fair
Austria is expected to be well represented at next week�s BioFach 2012 international organic trade fair in Nuremberg, Germany. Some 90 companies and organisations from the Austrian organic good sector will feature at the fair from 15 to 18 February.

Brothel for the homeless in Vienna
Homeless people are queueing up for free rooms in an Austrian brothel after owner Peter Laskaris said it would be unfair not to do everything he could during the current cold spell.

Deep-freeze snacks for orangutans in Sch�nbrunn
The lucky orangutans who take up residence in Europe�s oldest zoo have been indulging in a twice weekly take-away. Despite the trees in Sch�nbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria now being completely bare the fury friends have fresh branches and leaves delivered twice a week.