2nd Congress of Infrastructure and Transport made a sensational return

The 2nd Congress of Infrastructure and Transport, which took place on May 15-16, in the Amphitheater of Athens War Museum was a new big success. This year’s agenda was divided in two days; the first day was dedicated to Infrastructure while the second day to Transport matters and prospects.

It is remarkable that more than 1,200 conferrers attended the event in the course of these two days. This year we had the pleasure to host more than 35 speakers. Secretary General of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, Mr. Thanos Vourdas, opened the proceedings of the Congress in both days, while the Minister of Shipping and Island Policy, Mr. Panayiotis Kourouplis honored us by addressing a brief salutation at the opening of the second day.

One of the first day’s hilghlights was the “triple” intervention by the “Big 3” of Greece’s constructions world: Mr. Koutras, Mr. Perdikraris and Mr. Mitzalis, who expressed their concerns about the future of the country’s technical sector.

The second day’s first panel was particularly interesting as well, as the audience had the opportunity to listen to the interventions of Mr. Alexander Zinnel, CEO of Fraport Greece and Philippos Tsalidis, CEO of TRAINOSE S.A.

This year was also rich in engaging presentations. We hereby name a few, out of several that stood out: “Railway Egnatia” project, Athens new Intercity Buses Terminal, Crete’s new covered motorway (aka VOAK), Metro extension plans in Athens and Thessaloniki and the upgrade of 14 Regional Airports.

One of the needs that emerged regarding the next conference is the demand for additional space; the increased turnout proved that the available seats were not enough to meet our needs. From our behalf, it is a promise that next year a larger venue will be booked in order to meet the requirements of the Congress.

Another interesting finding is that there is a need for expression by the constructions world, as it still goes through difficult times. This year, we covered the technical sector again from the viewpoint of projects’ funding tools, the problems of the market in general and we analyzed building projects, which seem to have a powerful momentum.

Regarding the Transport sector on the second day, detailed speeches and presentations were heard, mainly on concessions of ports, airports and railways while freight transport and logistics were in the spotlight.

Important interventions were made by Infrastructure Secretary General of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, Mr. Giorgos Dedes, Special Secretary for NSRF, Mrs. Evgenia Fotoniata, Special Secretary for PPP projects, Mr. Nikos Mantzoufas, Secretary General of the Ministry of Shipping and Island Policy, Mr. Christos Lambridis, as well as New Democracy’s Head of Infrastructure, Mr. Kostas Karamanlis and the Head of the Delegation of EU’s Commission in Athens, Mr. Giorgos Markopouliotis.

The great success of our 2nd Congress is not a coincidence. Both ypodomes.com and metaforespress.gr did their best in order to conduct a balanced and interesting agenda and all that with speakers who would give every possible aspect of the current developments. The attendance and the feedback were particularly positive. The 3rd Congress, will follow, however both venue and exact dates will be decided.

We are very grateful to: the honorable 40 sponsors who made our dream for a high-level event possible, free-spirit support company for their fully professional approach, the excellent photographer and camera-woman, Artemis Skoulika who created an excellent conference video (you can watch it here) and our press team, that is worthy of congratulations both for its speed and quality of press releases, satisfying the needs of our speakers to the fullest.

Nikos Karagiannis-ypodomes.com

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