“We are substantially contributing to the development with infrastructure projects and 200,000 jobs in the next three years”, stressed the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport.
The Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, in charge of Infrastructure, Mr. George Karagiannis, referred to the double intervention of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport that ensures the continuation of Public Works and the viability of contractors in a difficult global environment. Regular Conference of the Panhellenic Association of Public Works Contractors Associations (PESEDE).
He emphasized the importance of such initiatives as they serve the central development goal at the core of the large € 13 billion program we are implementing to boost employment by creating 200,000 jobs over the next three years and transforming the brain drain of the last 10 years, of the technical potential of the country, in brain gain “.
Mr. Karagiannis characterized the interventions as a product of cooperation and an honest agreement for all, adding that “we are building the next day in the field of public infrastructure, with trust between the state and the contractors, proving in practice the change of mentality that has occurred with the New Government Of Democracy “.
He referred to the rapid reflexes shown by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport since last year, when the economic climate began to change. He stressed that Greece has adopted measures at a time when other European countries have not yet taken decisions.
“We proceeded with very fast and flexible procedures in the issuance of revision rates for the first three quarters of 2021, for almost 500 works that included materials such as steel, aluminum, copper, PVC, wood, asphalt, whose prices “They showed a significant deviation compared to the prices that prevailed before the pandemic period,” he noted.
Then the Russian invasion of Ukraine brought a new deterioration and changed the context of discussion and everyday life.
“Apart from the tragic images we see every day in Mariupol, Azovstal and the surrounding areas, this invasion brought about the problems known to all of you in the price of materials, energy and transport and in the whole supply chain as a whole. “We should all consider that only the Azofstal Steelworks provided 30% of the demand in the European Union,” he said.
The new treaty led to another package of measures to support the construction industry, “measures that meet the needs of the market”, as Mr. Karagiannis characteristically said.
Describing the new interventions, he stressed: “We have instituted the accounting payment of materials such as asphalt, PVC and Polyethylene and a premium of 5% on the unfulfilled object of contracts that will be completed within the schedules. We also gave the option to project contractors who can not afford it, either because they have given big discounts or for other reasons, to choose to extend the execution time of their projects by 6 months and not receive the premium timely delivery “.
In addition, revision rates have been issued for the last quarter of 2021 to which almost 70 additional rates have been added for works involving cementitious.
“It is an honest agreement for all parties. “It is an agreement that moves in the context of the demands of the industry and I believe that it will receive the acceptance it needs from the market,” said the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure.
As he explained “the central government decision we have taken is that development in Greece can not wait. “Within the framework of our financial capabilities, which we can never ignore, no matter how much some people want to say yes to everything cheaply, we create the conditions to solve the problems and to continue the projects.”
He reminded, in fact, that in these demanding conditions, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport with the Minister Mr. Costas Karamanlis has managed in almost three years to auction projects worth 8 billion. euros and to contract projects amounting to 3.2 billion euros at a time when “in the period 2015-2019, the then government had contracted projects of only 850 million”.
In closing, Mr. Karagiannis noted that “we are implementing our plan without hiding behind excuses, going one step forward every day for the industry and the country as a whole.”
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