€130 million spent without going through a tender process

The mayor of the commune of Hesperange, Diane Adehm, has confirmed that the municipal administration awarded seven construction contracts totalling 130 million euros without holding the required tenders. These decisions were taken by her predecessor, Marc Lies, who led the commune for 16 years. According to LSAP councillor Mathis Godefroid, the documents are in the public domain, and the current situation undermines public trust, as it involves the spending of taxpayers’ money. The projects carried out in breach of the rules included a community centre in Hesperange, a new sports complex in Holleschbierg and the Rotweith housing estate in Alzingen.

At the same time, the commune’s former leadership did not see any serious problems with this approach. As Stephen De Ron, a councillor from the dei Greng party, noted, during last year’s discussion of the financial audit, arguments were put forward that compliance with public procurement rules over-complicated the process and hindered the rapid launch of projects. Diane Adehm explained that officials were aware they were deviating from strict legal requirements, but had deliberately chosen to do so in order to speed up construction. Nevertheless, the incumbent mayor acknowledged that such actions were wrong and stated her intention to comply strictly with the law in future.

Despite the admission of guilt, the problem is of a broader nature and is partly due to changes in the law. Prior to the current regulations coming into force in 2018, the country applied the fee scale of the Order of Engineers and Architects, which set a fixed percentage of the construction cost to be paid to specialists. At that time, the absence of tenders did not cause any serious difficulties, as the fixed rates ruled out price competition. Under the new rules, a comprehensive programme and detailed specifications must be drawn up before a tender is announced, which requires a significant investment of time during the preliminary preparation stage. 

Diane Adehm emphasised that Hesperange and the municipality of Pétange – where a car park in Rodange was also built without a tender process – are not isolated cases. According to her estimates, more than half of the country’s 100 municipalities have breached public procurement rules in recent years. However, it is expected that further breaches may come to light in the future, as the Ministry of the Interior has so far only completed audits of projects for 2023 and 2024.