The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Kostas Karamanlis, mentioned in Parliament the major infrastructure projects being implemented in East Attica.

In the context of the parliamentary audit, Mr. Karamanlis spoke about the integrated project plan being implemented, which concerns road, rail and hydro projects in the region.

With regard to railway projects, he stressed that over the past 3.5 years, “a small revolution has taken place, because we have managed to separate the responsibilities of OSE and ERGOSE in accordance with European institutions.”

In particular, he mentioned the extension of the Suburban Railway to Koropi and Lavrio, explaining that this is a 31.7 km project with a budget of 300 million euros, which is expected to start in 2024 with a five-year implementation horizon. Accordingly, the second major project is the connection of the airport with the Rafina and Lavrio areas. “That is, with two ports that have a big sign of development,” he stressed. The project has a budget of 308 million euros and is expected to start construction during 2024 with a completion horizon of five years.

These projects are in their second phase, where the study of technical and legal solutions and work on a project declaration are expected during 2024 and will be funded by both the NSRF and European CEF 2, Connecting Europe 2021-2027.

“What we do as a government is that we don’t stop at the announcements of these projects,” Mr. Karamanlis said, explaining that connecting East Attica to the suburban railway was a multi-year request that is now becoming a reality. “In the same way as the connection of the largest port of the country of Piraeus with the airport became a reality.” He even stressed that the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport has put up for tender the country’s largest package of railway projects worth 4.5 billion euros, which will bring many areas out of a kind of isolation and will contribute to their development.

Mr. Karamanlis explained that in previous years, railway projects in Greece were an area of ​​absolute opacity, delays, and pointed out what we should avoid as a Greek state. “As a result, budgets flew and projects were never delivered on time,” he added.

“We, as a government, did serious planning and serious negotiations with the EU before putting these projects up for auction,” he said, adding that from now on, projects will be contracted and the project will be delivered on a turnkey basis. “This is what we are doing now with the competitive dialogue process. The same is happening throughout the EU. We took good examples from abroad and applied them in Greece,” he said.

At the same time, Mr. Karamanlis noted that with such a practice, schedules are observed and funding is guaranteed.

“Before, this was usually not done,” he said, adding that some politicians put projects up for auction before the elections, trying to throw ashes in the eyes of citizens.

“We do not hold tenders and do not announce projects unless we have two specific conditions: guaranteed funding and deadlines,” he stressed.

Regarding road projects, Mr. Karamanlis referred to the expansion of Kimi Avenue, for which funding has been secured, and the expansion of roads to Lavrio and Rafina, as well as 10 flood protection projects, 6 of which are located in East Attica.

“Therefore, it is established that both railway projects and road projects in East Attica are put on the same level, because the region is developing at a rapid pace, but we will also have to deal with the saturation that will exist in the coming years,” he said.

MONKEY BEE