Greece Moves Ahead with Infrastructure Projects Valued at €8bn

Infrastructure Minister Kostas Karamanlis. Photo source: Eurokinissi/Vasilis Rebapis

Over a period of three years, infrastructure projects valued at 8 billion euros were tendered off, with an additional 3 billion in line by the end of the year reaching more than 13 billion euros by 2023 and demonstrating the government’s drive to proceed with much-needed upgrades, said Infrastructure Minister Kostas Karamanlis during the 7th Delphi Economic Forum 2022 held last week in the town of Delphi.

Karamanlis went on to add that the priority now was in the next 18 months to enter contracts for railway projects budgeted at 5 billion euros, contributing in this way to improving Greece’s green footprint and establishing the country as an important transport hub.

Referring to the projects, Karamanlis said the sum was the largest allocated for infrastructure works since the 2004 Olympic Games. Of the total announced, Karamanlis said 3.5 billion euros of projects had already begun and that by the end of the year bidding would open for an additional 3 billion euros worth of works.

By 2023 “we will have exceeded the target of 13 billion euros in the four-year period”, he said.

Thessaloniki metro (archive photo). Source: Attiko Metro SA

A top priority for the ministry is completing road and railway network projects which link ports and logistics centers, Karamanlis said, adding than dozens of projects that had stopped for years, including Line 4 of the Athens Metro, the Thessaloniki Metro, and Crete’s North Road Axis, were now underway. 

Among others, the ministry has also tendered off projects valued at 1.5 billion euros concerning the management of water resources, such as flood defenses and dams.