The tender initiated by the Spanish government for securing liability insurance for the leadership of the organization overseeing the construction of a railway tunnel connecting Spain with Morocco has been declared void. This situation arose as no insurance companies submitted bids for the contract aimed at protecting executives from potential claims linked to their management decisions since the significant relaunch of the project in 2022. Specifically, the Spanish Company for Fixed Communications Studies through the Strait of Gibraltar (Secegsa), which operates under the Ministry of Transport, had sought to establish a contract to cover any possible claims related to the project's management and the public funds allocated since the initiative was revitalized. According to a resolution signed by the contracting body of the state-owned enterprise, the tender was launched in mid-March, but the deadline for proposals elapsed without any bidders coming forward. Secegsa emphasized that declaring the tender void will allow them to initiate a new bidding process to ensure the necessary civil liability coverage for the organization.
The timeline for the insurance procurement included a retroactive clause of four years, with the policy set to come into effect on September 30, 2026. This date is significant as the government aims to have completed the update of the preliminary project for the fixed connection to Morocco by then. The insurance scheme developed by Secegsa was designed to offer comprehensive coverage for key officials of the company, including its president, General José Luis Goberna, along with members of the board of directors and the executive management, which consists of representatives from both the Spanish and Moroccan governments.
With a base budget of €6,218 annually, extendable up to five years, the tender sought insurance against claims arising from management errors, negligence, or omissions in decision-making, in addition to legal defense costs and reputation recovery expenses. It also aimed to include coverage for potential accounting liabilities resulting from actions audited by bodies such as the Court of Auditors. The maximum amount anticipated for coverage was set at €1.64 million. The insurance was expected to be operational by September 30, 2026, coinciding with the government's plans to finalize the update of the preliminary project by June and to advance preparations for the future exploratory tunnel—an experimental infrastructure designed to analyze the geological conditions of the Strait, with bidding anticipated in 2027.
Furthermore, the insurance policy that Secegsa intended to contract included a retroactive provision of up to four years, aimed at covering any potential liabilities arising from decisions made prior to the contract’s inception. Since 2022, the Spanish government has transferred over €9.6 million to Secegsa, which previously operated with a mere €50,000 in annual public assistance. This period of coverage corresponds with the revitalization phase of the railway tunnel project, led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, following Spain's diplomatic shift regarding Western Sahara and the rapprochement with King Mohammed VI. This change has been accompanied by a significant increase in public funding directed towards Secegsa. The absence of bids to insure Secegsa's leadership comes at a particularly sensitive time for the project, as the tunnel initiative with Morocco enters a phase of heightened technical, financial, and legal scrutiny after years of preliminary studies and political reactivation.
Current studies suggest that the overall construction of the project would require approximately a decade of work and an estimated investment of around €8.5 billion from the Spanish side, although these figures remain preliminary and subject to ongoing investigations.
As reported by vozpopuli.com.
