Eighteen years after the start of the works for the construction of the Thessaloniki Metro, the construction site area is released today on the streets Egnatia and Venizelou. The sheets that demarcated the work area and the area in which pedestrians and wheeled vehicles could move have been removed and the road returns to its previous statewith three lanes in each direction at Egnatia and three lanes along the entire length of Venizelos.

During these years the whole city suffered, but especially the commercial and business world was affected that were active in the areas through which the Metro axis passes. “This world is destroyed. Since the beginning of the construction of the project 2006from the first years, the situation was tragic and the commercial traffic reached 20% of the previous years” the president of the Trade Association Pantelis Filippidis points out to APE – MPE.

“When the sheet metal was a meter away from the shops, who would pass by? He would go anywhere else and eventually not come to these stores. We identified these problems from the beginning, we shouted, there were protests, ministers had come. Many went to court but were not vindicated. They were simply destroyed. No one ever wondered what became of these people who ruined a great project that the city wanted. Unfortunately, they paid for it with their work, this is the truth,” he notes characteristically.

Mr. Filippides adds that “the project started in 2006 to be delivered in 2013 and from 2013 to now it is eleven years late”. He comments, at the same time, that even in the area of ​​Botsari and Petrou Syndika, the road was theoretically closed for nine months, but practically for four years. “The road is empty. Not a single store remained open, not even the supermarket. All the shops were closed. Some are opening slowly so that the street can get a commercial activity again, which at the moment does not even exist” he notes. He points out, at the same time, that there were some measures to relieve traders and entrepreneurs, however he emphasizes that they were selective, required a lot of bureaucracy and ultimately did not work in a positive way to strengthen these people.

According to him, in addition to the Metro projects, many were also destroyed by the economic crisis of the following years. “The restoration of the area is coming today, but nothing has changed in the area because the Metro is still not running to bring people. If it is released, of course there will be surplus value, but what surplus value can someone talk about who has been ruined for 18 years? There are those who managed to survive, in whatever circumstances, with whatever debts everyone has, but also those who were half-destroyed cannot easily recover. I hope the Metro works so we can see what surplus value it will bring and how it will work for these people,” he adds.