In the infrastructure projects that are carried out within the schedule and in particular those that are delivered and have as a result the improvement of the daily life of the citizens, it was mentioned, among others, the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transportresponsible for infrastructure, Nikos Tachiaos, during the presentation of the annual report of the project to the accredited editors of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.

THE Nikos Tahiaos prioritized the new challenges faced by the political leadership of the Ministry, stating that solving the traffic problem of Attica is now a priority. In this context, he announced legislative intervention for the standard proposals in order to advance, with the lowest possible cost for the State, the extensions of the Attica Road, both towards Vouliagmenis Avenue, and in the Elefsina – Oinoi section.

· He characterized as a great challenge the delivery of the Attica Road within the first quarter of 2025, to the new concessionaire, clarifying that in the interim the operation will be ensured for the benefit of the Greek State.

· For Egnatia, he committed that within the summer its sanction will be passed by the Parliament and at the beginning of 2025 the road will be handed over to the new concessionaire.

· Regarding the restoration projects in Thessaly, he said that by the beginning of Autumn, the relevant contracts with a total budget of 1.4 billion euros will have been signed. Companies that have the corresponding ability will participate in the tenders.

· For line 4 of the Metro, he argued that the model of the preliminary work and the main work followed was wrong, which, among other things, is responsible for the observed delays. He characterized as “unrealistic” the schedule of eight years that had been set for the completion of the project.

· Regarding the Thessaloniki metro, he assured that it will be delivered to end of November.

Here are the main points from the introductory statement of the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Nikos Tahiaou:

“Politicians who occasionally pass through the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport rarely see the completion of a project they have announced during their tenure.

The vast majority of the projects, which Minister Christos Staikouras mentioned in detail, were designed, matured and completed by the Governments of Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Thus, today we find that the projects we have already delivered have improved the daily life of citizens

In particular, I will point out to you an emblematic project, to which the Prime Minister himself has often referred, the Thessaloniki Metro. The project will be delivered at the end of November. In fact, with the Deputy Minister of Transport, Vassilis Oikonomou, we will go to Thessaloniki next week in order to coordinate all the public transport agencies of the city, so that they can adapt to the new data that is being created.

The second thing I want to note is the collective effort being made in the Ministry which is successfully coordinated by Minister Christos Staikouras. The former Deputy Minister Christina Alexopoulou also participated in the group and the new Deputy Minister Vassilis Oikonomou is now added, with the contribution of both General Secretaries of Yiannis Xifaras and Kostas Magoulas.

After completing one year since assuming our duties, we are now turning to projects that will improve the daily life of the citizens of Attica. It is common knowledge that Attica has reached its limits in terms of traffic and that new infrastructure is needed.

With legislative intervention that we will promote immediately, we are amending the framework of the proposal templates. Our purpose is to solve some weaknesses that we have identified. In principle, the possibility to submit standard proposals will be limited only to Public-Private Partnership projects and Concessions. We know from the titles of the proposals that have been submitted that this is the project of the extension of the Ymittos ring road towards Vouliagmenis Avenue and the Elefsina – Oinoi road section which concerns the decongestion of Kifissos. They are projects that interest us and our goal is to examine the standard proposals, with the parallel criterion of minimizing the financial contribution of the State.

The delivery of Attica Road and Egnatia Road are also significant challenges. The Greek State will take over the operation of the Attica Road in the period until it is handed over to the new concession holder, which is estimated to be possible in the first quarter of 2025. There is no case of extension of the existing concession contract. Likewise for Egnatia Odos, we are trying to resolve issues related to the delivery of the project. In any case, by the summer the sanctioning Law for the Egnatia Road contract will have been passed. Among other things, this will deal with all the outstanding issues related to the delivery of the project, so that at the beginning of next year it will pass to the concessionaire, who will assume all the obligations arising from the contract. At the same time, these developments are expected to activate other projects such as the road axis Chalastra – Evzoni.

There are, of course, other serious issues that arose outside of the Ministry’s planning, the most typical being that of Thessaly. In the Thessaly projects we had constant consultation with the local communities. We did not make promises that exceed the limits of the Ministry, but neither did we omit interventions that are critical for the everyday life of citizens. Very soon, tenders for road and rail projects will proceed. By the end of summer – beginning of autumn, the contracts concerning the restoration of Thessaly will have been signed.

Also, another recent example of an emergency that we were called to manage is the explosion of the tanker under the bridge of the Old National Road, in the area of ​​the Isthmus of Corinth. Within a short period of time, we completed its removal, so that passers-by are not at risk. The interventions did not end there. At this time we have opened the side roads for local traffic.

Of course, there are still many extraordinary events to which we responded, providing immediate solutions. In any case, we try – and this I consider to be a key characteristic of the governments of Kyriakos Mitsotakis – to be next to the local communities and to listen to their needs”.

Source: Thestival.gr