Master Plan for Piraeus Port Upgrade Approved

Piraeus Port.

The master plan for the upgrade of Greece’s largest port, Piraeus, was approved on Friday after Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou issued a presidential decree.

Initially tabled by Piraeus Port Authority (PPA) managers Cosco in 2017, the 600-million-euro investment for the expansion of the port ran into obstacles after Greece’s Central Archaeological Council (KAS) decided to designate a significant part of Piraeus as a site of archaeological importance.

The Greek Shipping Ministry finally approved the plan which outlines the terms and conditions for the project and which include among others special spatial planning and environmental protection terms and calls for a balanced integration with the surrounding urban areas of Piraeus, Drapetsona, Keratsini, Perama and Salamina.

Piraeus port.

The procedures for the approval of the Piraeus port master plan paved the way for a new institutional framework that will cover approval procedures of all ports in Greece, 32 in total.

Describing the procedure as “tedious”, Greek Shipping Minister Yiannis Plakiotakis said it “paves the way for the country’s ports to take a step forward in an organized manner and with a plan that will ensure a future for the benefit of both local communities and the national economy”.

“Today, for the first time, the port of Piraeus has a presidential decree, a solid guide for its development, which has taken into account the multitude of environmental, cultural, spatial planning, urban planning factors and commitments that must be adhered to,” said the shipping ministry in a statement.

The presidential decree covers all provisions for the operation and further development of the port, port zones and sub-zones, land use, construction conditions, binding and non-binding investments, and environmental protection commitments.

Piraeus port.

A main requirement concerns the preparation of a comprehensive traffic study during the environmental licensing stage of the projects.

The shipping ministry committed through the General Secretariat of Ports, Port Policy & Maritime Investments, to invest in the development of all ports.

“The socio-economic and commercial results of the country’s two privatized ports, Piraeus and Thessaloniki, are not only good, but impressively positive,” it said, adding that actions in the same direction will be taken for the ports of Kavala, Igoumenitsa, Heraklion and Volos. So far master plans for the up-for-privatization ports of Alexandroupolis, Kavala and Igoumenitsa have been submitted.