At the event for the establishment of the first Professional Interdepartmental Postgraduate Program for the Management of Infrastructure and Construction Projects, the National Technical University of Athens in collaboration with the GEK TERNA Group of Companies, the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport spoke, Kostas Karamanlis.

Mr. Karamanlis recalled that when the Ministry of Infrastructure presented in 2019 the plan for investments in the infrastructure sector amounting to 10 to 12 billion euros, many had considered it overly optimistic or as another pre-election announcement.

“It is logical, on the one hand, for some to think so. Why, before 2019, within 4.5 years, the amount of contracts in infrastructure projects was only 800 million euros“, Mr. Karamanlis commented and added: “Today, however, three and a half years after taking over this portfolio, the projects we have tendered exceed 10 billion euros and of these, more than 5 billion have already been contracted, which means that they are being implemented».

The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport even challenged anyone who wants to refer to that program and compare the government’s announcements with its actions.

“Because politicians should ultimately be judged by our actions and not by our words“, he underlined.

Mr. Karamanlis recalled that since 2019 the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport had to deal with legislative distortions, lack of maturity in studies and complex problems that caused major projects to bog down until that moment.

He also recalled that the construction industry was in deep recession as a result of overall underinvestment in the major projects sector.

“Now, this negative image for the sector has been completely reversed. The backlog of large construction groups exceeded 10 billion euros in 2022, while forecasts for 2023 are that it will reach 15 billion euros. In other words, we are talking about record levels, both overall for the industry, and individually for each group or company“, noted Mr. Karamanlis.

“In fact, according to the IOBE study, the percentage of construction’s contribution will reach 8.1% of GDP in 2025, when in 2020 it was only 4%Mr. Karamanlis also mentioned and added:

“So we are going through a new infrastructure spring. Because never before have so many works been auctioned in such a short period of time».

The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport spoke of a “investment shock» in the construction sector, which woke the industry from a long and painful slumber.

“And all these projects mean stability, security and, of course, they mean the possibility of long-term planning for companies. But they also mean something else very important. New and well-paying jobs“, he said.

He called it important collaboration between GEK TERNA and the National Technical University of Athens which officially starts today.

He pointed out in particular that it is confirmed in practice that precisely because of this explosion of infrastructure, the work of an engineer, of any specialty, is once again an attractive profession.

He also noted that the National Technical University of Athens is one of the best in the world and its graduates deserve to have a corresponding professional rehabilitation and a brilliant career.

“And we want this career to take place here, in Greece and not abroad, where many Engineers were forced to flee in previous years“, he said and emphasized:

“Now, of course, this situation is changing day by day and we are particularly proud to contribute to this. That is, where we manage to turn brain drain into braingain. But we also need new Engineers. We need more, new, brilliant minds to give their momentum and dynamism to the industry. Which will transfer the new know-how to the field of projects».

In addition, he stated that this master’s degree is the first in implementation of the new Law, which enables the private sector to finance the creation Professional Postgraduate Study Programsbased on market demands.

“Therefore, the young engineers who complete this Master’s degree will have been trained not only in the most up-to-date developments in scientific knowledge, but also in the expertise that the industry needs now, at this moment.”noted Mr. Karamanlis, calling on other companies active in cutting-edge sectors – in construction, energy, technology – to embrace this possibility that the law now gives, so that the private sector can join forces with the scientific community.