8 big road projects across Greece targeted by large construction groups in 2021

Three major PPPs, two concessions and three major public projects concern the potentially next major road projects in the country. After the completion of the pending issues with the E65, which as a whole is now under construction, the road projects concern more specific geographical areas of the country and will be the ones that will lead us to the end of the current decade.

The three major PPPs and the two concessions concern VOAK, the submarine Salamina-Perama connectin, the western part of Olympia Odos Patra-Pyrgos, the flyover of Peripheral Thessaloniki and Kalamata-Pylos-Methoni. The three public projects are the extension of Kymi Avenue, the Chalkida Bypass and the eastern part of VOAK Neapoli-Agios Nikolaos.

The cost of all these projects reaches 3.5 billion euros and will be a battle point for the country’s large technical groups. Let us not forget that apart from the E65 project, the country has not seen a new major road project in recent years (after the completion of major highways).

A common point of almost all the projects is 2023 as then it is estimated for most as the beginning of their construction period.

The advanced projects

The project that is closest to the start of implementation is the western part of Olympia Odos, Patra-Pyrgos. The final response from DG Comp is expected and the estimate is that by the end of the year the projects could have started. The concessionaire Olympia Odos is ready to start the constructions as soon as the formal procedures are completed, which are beyond the approval the signing of a new amended contract and the ratification by the Parliament.

The project of the Underwater Connection of Salamina-Perama is considered as an advanced project. The competition closes this year 5 years as it started in 2016. The environmental study has been submitted and as everything shows we will not be late to move to the final phase which is the submission of technical and financial bids. The project under ideal conditions could start in 2023.

From there on we have projects whose competitions have as a common component the point of maturity. At the beginning of phase B are or will pass the flyover, Kalamata-Pylos-Methoni and the big new bet of the country which is VOAK.

The first two projects are more local in nature and could potentially see projects starting around 2023.

VOAK

Regarding the VOAK, the environmental studies have been submitted in the concession section (Chania-Hersonissos) and in the PPP (Hersonissos-Neapoli) and the start of the second phase is estimated to be soon. At the same time, we are waiting for the start of the competition for the eastern part of Neapoli-Agios Nikolaos, which will complete the puzzle of the axis (excluding the extensions to Kissamos and Sitia) in this phase.

This project together with line 4 of the Metro have the largest budget (exceeding 1.6 billion euros) compared to all other projects in competition. They are the most important projects of the current decade in terms of government projects (excluding Elliniko). For the triple competition we could theoretically say that 2023 is a year where we could gradually see the first bulldozers.

Competitions are being prepared in two projects

At the level of preparation to be announced in the ministry of YPOME, they are feverishly preparing for two projects. The first extension of Attiki Odos that concerns the opening of Kymi Avenue and the bypass of Chalkida that has been expected from Evia for years.

The opening of Kymi Avenue with an urban tunnel for the most part is a very ambitious plan in which the Ministry of Infrastructure has invested. With its operation, it will “relieve” the exit of Metamorfosi, which has been changed to the most important and the most saturated junction of the urban highway.

Finally, the bypass of Chalkida, a project that has been prepared for several years, seems to be entering the final stretch. It is on the agenda of the projects that the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport is going to auction in the next twelve months.

Apart from these large projects, some other smaller but important ones are progressing, such as the southern bypass of the city of Rhodes, etc.