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Five candidates bid for Lisbon subway, bus companies

Xinhua, June 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

Five candidates have presented bids to buy stakes in Lisbon subway and the Lisbon bus company, Portuguese Ministry of Economy said on Monday.

Paris transport operator RATP, Britain-based public transport company National Express and Spain's second largest bus company Avanza presented bids for both companies, according to Portuguese Lusa News Agency.

Portuguese bus company Barraqueiro and Catalonian transport operator TCC (Transports Ciutat Comtal) are interested in Carris, Secretary of State of Infrastructures, Transport and Communications Sergio Silva Monteiro said. Transport firm Transdev presented a bid for Lisbon subway.

"We have a competitive process as the government expected and now it is necessary for the company and the jury to undertake all necessary procedures that follow, so we can take a decision as soon as possible," Silva Monteiro said at parliament.

Portuguese transport unions have held numerous strikes and protests against the sale of transport operators since the country signed a 78-billion-euro bailout program in 2011 with troika of international lenders -- the European Commission, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank.

The government is selling state-owned companies as part of the program to reduce its heavy debt load. Enditem