“We still have open fronts in Thessaly and in the wider region and we also have new challenges during the week, which we will have to manage in a timely and correct way, as the Greek government is doing.”

This was stated by the Minister of Infrastructure Christos Staikouras, starting his speech at the conference on regional development, “Olympia Forum IV”, organized by the economic forum of Delphi and the newspaper “Patris”, at the premises of the International Olympic Academy, in Ancient Olympia .

The minister emphasized that “today I had the opportunity to visit some of the affected areas and I found that a lot of technical works are being done on roads and bridges, works which are being done with funding from the Greek State to the regions and mainly to the Region of Thessaly, but also to the municipalities of affected areas”.

As he added, “resources amounting to approximately 50 million euros have already been allocated and this morning I saw works being done, I actually saw a restoration of the citizen’s daily life, but also some work in view of difficult situations that we are estimated to have in the next 24 hours ».

At the same time, he noted that “in terms of how we will face the challenges before us in Thessaly, we will move in two parallel directions» and continued:

“THE first direction it was basically delineated by the prime minister last week, meaning we will have an agency, which under the supervision of the Ministry of Infrastructure, but also the Ministry of Environment and Energy, should make a rational and holistic approach to the challenges, mainly in the waters, which the region faces. Which means that we should have durable infrastructure, but taking into account the challenges that a region has.

THE second directioncomplementary interwoven, but also distinct, is the possibility that is now given through the legislative framework to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, after a proposal by the competent minister to the Council of Ministers, to be able to execute, quickly, projects, projects even those that are not within the competence of the Ministry of Infrastructure, with financing, initially from the Recovery and Resilience Fund, amounting to approximately 600 million euros. In this direction, several autopsies have been started and carried out by the ministry’s engineers, as well as by the ministry’s agencies, on assets with which they are involved, such as OSE and ERGOSE on the railway network, schools and other public buildings ».

Therefore, said Christos Staikouras, “the evaluation of the situation is done, so that we can then allocate the resources”.

As he noted, “it is a dynamic process, which is evolving. Accessibility in the villages is already being restored and this will be completed in the next period of time”.

“I can say with relative certainty”, he continued, “that of this 600 million euros, 187 million euros are for restoration projects of the most serious damages suffered by the country’s railway network over a large area, which has to do with and with structures and with infrastructures and with bridges in the railway network and with railway stations and unfortunately even with remote control and electric mobility systems that were recently delivered to the Greek State certified by the railway regulatory authority”.

“Unfortunately”, as he said, “2023 is not a good year for the Greek railway, but we will face these challenges with greater stubbornness and greater determination”.

Staying on the subject of the railway, Christos Staikouras said that “recently we significantly increased the budget of the OSE from 45 to 75 million euros, with accountability from the management side, so that mainly maintenance projects are carried out, but not only maintenance , which will improve the structures and infrastructures, which are provided to the Greek citizen”.

At the same time, he added, “we moved forward and while we were ready to deliver these days an integrated signaling and remote control system, i.e. the 717 contract, from Athens to Thessaloniki, unfortunately this is going later, but we are within the time period we had initially demarcated” .

Returning to the problems facing Thessaly, he said that “this morning I was in some villages that have been recently affected by the natural disaster and they told me that there are no machines”. In other words, he added, “citizens were asking for some immediate interventions for fear that the weather phenomena, which it seems we will have during the week, would create new problems again in the same areas, and there were no machines available, since everything has been used up in the restoration of the damages”.

The Minister of Infrastructure then referred to a series of projects being carried out in Western Greece, emphasizing among others:

“Obviously the emblematic project of the region is the Patra-Pyrgos highway. It is a 75 km project, which is carried out in three different and by three different contractors.

About 25% completion rate at the moment. It is not the same percentage in all three departments. The section closest to the Tower has a completion rate of over 40% as of today.

And yes, asphalt paving has also started in certain sections. The second issue I wanted to tell you, we do not highlight it with emphasis, but I believe that it was an extremely important intervention made by the previous political leadership of the ministry, is road safety and especially the road safety of the existing road Patras – Pyrgos.

Interventions of 15.8 million euros including VAT were made. These were completed very recently, in August 2023 for a length of 80 km.

Also, based on the official data of the State, there had been 53 fatal accidents in the period 2016-2020 in this area.

This year there has been none. I therefore consider that this project is of great importance that it has been completed.

Another project we had the opportunity to visit recently was Aktio-Ambrakia.

That is, the road connection of Aktios with the Ionian Road, 40 kilometers long. A project with a contractual cost of 100 million euros and a significant part of it has been delivered, while well before the end of the year it will be completed in its entirety.

That is, in three years from the signing of the contract, it will be completed. Another project is Vonitsa-Lefkada. Construction and upgrading of the road connection of the city of Lefkada, with the Aktio-Ambrakia road axis.

We also have a wider road project on the borders of Western Greece, which is Kalamata-Pylos-Methoni, where the contract was signed in April 2023, a project that started very recently, and has a work period of 48 months”.

Then Christos Staikouras referred to Thessaloniki, saying that “an emblematic project is the operation of the Metro and this will take place in 2024” adding: “The opening of the fly over will greatly help, in the future, Thessaloniki and the wider region . This project will begin to be implemented in the coming weeks.”

Staying on the projects, he said that “BOAK in Crete is moving forward, on line 4 of the Athens Metro, almost half of the preliminary works have been completed, while the new airport in Kastelli is expected to be delivered in 2027”.

He also said that “we have the E65, which in its entirety, in its connection with Egnatia Street, is expected to be completed by the end of 2025, but by the end of the 1st quarter of 2024, we estimate that the remaining section will have been delivered effectively connects PATHE with Kalambaka”.

In the meantime, answering a question from the journalist, Nikos Karagiannis, on the issue of electrification, the Minister of Infrastructure noted, among other things: “Specific targets have been set for 2030, and for 2050 at the European level. The country wants to be among the protagonists.

We are moving in this direction in a systematic way, especially since the choice of the government is for the role of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport to be more substantial, with more responsibilities in the field of electric mobility.

The first thing we therefore did was to proceed, after the decision of the Court of Auditors, in the supply of the first 250 electric buses in Athens and Thessaloniki. We have set a tight schedule so that these buses will be available to citizens from the end of April 2024.

The second point was to run a little faster, after the transfer of responsibilities and we did it last week, the various programs available to Greek society that provide incentives for electrification.

The third issue, extremely important, is the structures, i.e. the loading points. Charging points have multiplied in recent years, we have set specific goals for the next two and six years, multiplying all these structures.

“Well, we are moving with a plan, as quickly as we can, safely, but also with the necessary funding, so as to strengthen electric mobility in our country”.