BOAK: The contract was signed for the Neapolis – Agios Nikolaos section – When does the project start

The contract for the first section of the BOAK (Neapolis-Agios Nikolaos) was signed today, in the presence of the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Mr. Kostas Karamanlis and the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, Mr. Giorgos Karagiannis.

The contract was signed by the director of the Special Public Works Service, Mr. Dimitrios Anagnopoulos and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the contracting company AKTOR, Mr. Christos Panagiotopoulos.

The Neapolis – Agios Nikolaos section of BOAK will be built as a public project. It has been included in the Recovery Fund and the Public Investment Program 2021 and the project budget amounts to 169 million euros.

It is expected that the first construction sites will be set up and construction work will begin immediately.

Karamanlis: Within the next few weeks, we will see the first construction sites being set up in Crete

Mr. Karamanlis in his statements at the signing of the contract emphasized that: “Today is a great day for Crete – and especially the Prefecture of Lasithi – but also for the whole of Greece. Because today the biggest road project that will be built in our country in the coming years begins and officially becomes a reality. Today, with the signing of the contract for the first section of the BOAK Neapolis – Agios Nikolaos to be built as a public project, we are setting the first decisive important milestone, so that Crete finally gets the National Highway it deserves».

The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport pointed out that: “The Northern Road Axis of Crete is a highway that, when completed, will connect the island from Kissamos to Sitia. With a total length of 294 kilometers and an estimated budget of more than 2 billion euros. The biggest road project that the European Union will finance in the coming years”.
He reminded that: “As we all know, this project has been the constant and biggest demand of all Cretans for decades. A necessity, for a place with rapid tourist development and intense activity in the primary sector. But it is also something else: a project that the Greek state owes to all the families who have mourned victims on the asphalt of this road».

Mr. Karamanlis then emphasized: “Today, therefore, practically marks the beginning of the construction of BOAK. Within the next few weeks, we will see the first construction sites set up in Crete. Just like we said. Once again, our actions back up our words».

BOAK serves development and road safety

He also reminded that: “We had announced this a year before Crete, with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis himself. This is what we were committed to. That we’re going to see bulldozers in 2022. And you see that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
After all, he noted that: “BOAK is also a personal bet of the Prime Minister. Because it is a project that absolutely serves two great goals it has set: Development and road safety».

Mr. Karamanlis also reminded that: “Of course, in order to get here to a tangible and implementable project, we had to take specific steps. In other words, to ensure the three necessary conditions for every road project: Funding, Design, Timetable. So first and foremost: We secured funding. We took advantage of all available financial tools and of course the opportunity of the Recovery Fund. Second, we finalized the design of the project.
And thirdly, we set a specific and very tight schedule for each stage of the project».

On the final stretch for Hersonissos – Neapoli and Chania – Heraklion

Mr. Karamanlis announced that: “In the next period we will also enter the final stretch for the Hersonissos-Neapoli, which is implemented with PPP. And of course, Chania-Heraklion follows, which will be done with a Concession Agreement and soon we will enter the B phase of the competition».

“We have already laid solid and solid foundations for the projects that will lead our country into the next decade»

In closing, he once again emphasized the following: “We have drawn up and are implementing step by step a comprehensive project program of 13 billion, of which we have already tendered 9.6 and contracted almost 4 billion. We have therefore succeeded in laying solid and solid foundations for the projects that will lead our country in the next decade. We thus fulfill the debt we owe to the younger generations. To bequeath them a more modern country with stronger conditions for development and progress».

Mr. Karamanlis, finally, thanked all his collaborators and wished the contractor a good start and a good start to the great project of the Northern Road Axis of Crete, and concluded:From our side, we will closely monitor the progress of the project, so that in 36 months from today it will be delivered ready to the citizens of Lasithi and Crete».

Giorgos Karagiannis: Crete will acquire a highway worth more than 2 billion euros

For his part, the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, responsible for Infrastructure, Mr. Giorgos Karagiannis said: “Soon all Cretans will see this long-awaited project, BOAK, begin. The Neapolis – Agios Nikolaos section, a project of 169 million euros, gives the impetus for the largest road project under construction in Greece, but also one of the largest in all of Europe».

He also emphasized that:Crete in the coming years will become an immense construction site, while with the completion of all the projects, it will acquire a highway worth more than 2 billion euros that will substantially upgrade the development prospects and comparative advantages of its economy and offer increased levels of road safety and environmental protection».

In addition, he noted that “and the rest of the sections are expected to move forward soon, contracts will be signed and work will begin. The design foresees many uneven junctions, an extensive collateral network and many kilometers of underground works».

Concluding, he pointed out that: “3 years ago, we received a small or non-existent planning maturity, with fragmentary interventions, scattered along the axis, without coherence and the required specifications of a modern highway. Today is yet another proof that when there is political will, determination and ability, anything is possible. Because at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, we prefer to say less and do more».

Data for the Neapolis-Agios Nikolaos section of the BOAK

The object of the project is the study and construction of the improvement works of the Neapolis – Agios Nikolaos section of the BOAK, with the construction of a four-lane artery, with two traffic lanes and a 14.5 km expressway in each direction, and its conversion into a highway.

In particular, as part of the project, the existing road from the first entrance of Neapolis to the Kritzas junction in Agios Nikolaos will be improved and widened.

A complete network of cross and side roads (approximately 2 km and 9 km respectively) will also be developed and constructed to connect the areas on either side of the new virtually modern highway.

In addition, three uneven junctions (Neapolis, Limnon and Agios Nikolaos), five bridges, eight underpasses and five works of partial and total coverage of traffic lanes and support works (Cut & Cover), as well as hydraulic works for the drainage of the streets and the rainwater runoff, but also stream and torrent settlement projects.

BOAK: The largest ongoing road project in Europe

The BOAK is the largest road project currently being built in all of Europe and an absolutely necessary project for Crete, as it will allow fast and above all safe movements.

The implementation of the project is now starting, as the first construction sites will be set up immediately (at the beginning of autumn) in the Neapolis – Agios Nikolaos section, the Hersonissos – Neapoli section will follow by the end of the year and the large section will also start by the end of 2023 Chania – Heraklion, which has already received environmental licensing.

At the same time, in the framework of the overall planning of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, the maturation of the BOAK studies up to Sitia is progressing. By the end of 2022, it is expected to be ready for the tender of the sections, Kalo Chorio – Frouzi Bridge and Pachia Ammos Bypass, for which there are already approved environmental conditions.

The Neapoli – Agios Nikolaos section will be carried out as a public project, the Hersonissos – Neapoli section (length 22.44 km and a budget of 290 million euros) as a PPP and the Chania – Heraklion section (length 157.5 km and a budget of 1.32 billion euros ) as a concession agreement.

The contract for the Hersonissos – Neapoli is expected to be signed within the autumn.

For Chania – Heraklion, the environmental conditions were approved on July 20 and the tender has now moved to the second phase for the submission of binding offers by the participants in the tender process until the end of the year, so that the project can be contracted within 2023.

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