A broad meeting of the coordinating body to deal with the consequences of the construction of the flyover on traffic and for the better management of road transport, took place in the morning, at the Command Hall, in the presence of the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Staikouras, the two Deputy Ministers, Infrastructure and Transport, Nikos Tahiaou and Vassilis Oikonomou, the Deputy Minister of Interior (Macedonia – Thrace) Kostas Giulekas, the Deputy Minister of Citizen Protection Andreas Nikolakopoulos, the president of PEDKM Ignatios Kaitezides and officials.

At the meeting, all the interventions and initiatives that have been undertaken and will be undertaken in the near future, regarding the development of infrastructure and transport projects, which will shape, upon their completion, the “new transport map” of Thessaloniki. At the same time, it was reaffirmed that every fortnight the coordinating committee will meet, in order to evaluate and update the actions and interventions.

Mr. Staikouras pointed out, among other things, that the flyover project, according to the contractor company’s estimates, will be implemented at even higher speeds in the next period of time. “Today, for the first time, we heard from the contractor expressing their satisfaction, because now most of the fronts have been rendered, so the project can run at even higher speeds than it had today. Which, today, has 200 workers and 50 heavy vehicles implementing the project” he added.

In particular, the minister pointed out that “the 110 electric buses circulate on the streets of Thessaloniki, while additional drivers were hired in the meantime, so the buses, in practice, on the streets of Thessaloniki are both better and more”. At the same time, he said: “we have committed and it will be completely implemented, the operation of the metro in Thessaloniki, in November 2024. Well, in the field of public transport, we are, in fact, implementing the commitments we made a few months ago”.

Mr. Staikouras also referred to the second line of interventions, such as, specific legislative initiatives and political options, which were proposed in the coordinating committee, so that “in the field of responsibility of the ministry” the consequences of the start of construction of the flyover will be reduced. In particular, he emphasized: “this has been done. And provisions have been passed in the Parliament and Egnatia takes over the operation of the ring road, in that specific field”. He also mentioned the opening of the road from the Karatassiou camp for official vehicles.

For his part, the Deputy Minister of Transport Vassilis Oikonomou underlined that everyone should prepare for the new transport map of Thessaloniki and added: “this map will reflect the new data. The city is changing, the transport data is changing, we have the metro in a short time, so we have to adapt”. After pointing out that the flyover is a “serious matter for the city”, he added: “We have to coordinate them, combine responses, new routes, a new transport architecture in Thessaloniki and that’s what we will do, that’s why we are now going to the meeting with the others agencies”.

“The issue of daily life in the capital of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, is an immediate priority,” said Deputy Minister of the Interior (Macedonia-Thrace) Kostas Giulekas in his statements and added: “We have reached some conclusions, the first is what we had announced from the very beginning , that the coordinating council to be effective must meet regularly, every 15 days. Well, the city’s coordinating council will meet, not merely to discuss and ascertain matters, but mainly to discuss measures. Let’s see which measures didn’t work as well as they should, and they need to be intensified, to see which measures might have been, or weren’t in the right direction in order to correct them, but anyway so that we can at least see an improvement from September in the everyday life of the Thessalonians”.

“The mandate we have from the prime minister, from Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is to raise Macedonia and Thrace higher and certainly our priority in all of this is Thessaloniki” he said and continued: “This will be judged by whether we will be able to do some things that our fellow citizens will see and judge us by the result, not by the words”.

The Deputy Minister of Citizen Protection Andreas Nikolakopoulos stated that “the police, the Ministry of Citizen Protection, has a special plan in order to reduce the consequences of the construction of the project and the traffic impacts”, stressing that this includes traffic policing and improving traffic conditions, with the presence of more police officers. “We have reinforced the traffic police with more than 100 people. I am glad that in this meeting this more intensive presence of the traffic was established, in order to have an immediate response to every incident, whether it is a traffic accident or an emergency. It is very important that until today the Greek police have provided assistance in cases that required immediate transport to a hospital. We continue this effort, we listened to the agencies and we will be here to constantly strengthen the Greek police of Northern Greece and Thessaloniki, in order to respond, not only to traffic needs, but also to the great challenges that exist” he added.

“The city joins forces for a project, this in itself says a lot, the project will be done because the city and the people want it” said the president of the Regional Union of Municipalities of Central Macedonia, mayor of Pylaia Hortiatis, Ignatios Kaitezidis. “When a project is carried out in a city and until it is operational, there will certainly be problems, we all recognize that, but the practical interest of the government, of the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis himself, of the relevant ministry that was once again in the city and the practical interest of all the entities of this city, make me optimistic, and also the municipalities of this city, that this project will proceed, will be delivered to the city and will be something that functionally will add to the operation of this city” completed.