Tender for Crete’s Northern Motorway Axis to be launched soon

This year is about to close with a great piece of news, which is no other than the initiation of the concession tender for Crete’s Northern Motorway (aka VOAK). The information was released by the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Mr. Christos Spirtzis yesterday in the Parliament and was confirmed by Ministry’s officials, shortly after.

According to very secure information provided at Ypodomes.com, at the beginning of 2018, the tender’s proclamation will be released, which concerns the first stage of the procedure with the initial expression of interest. This will also signify a great opportunity for the country’s major technical companies, that have been waiting eagerly for a construction project of this scale.

According to early estimates, the cost will be 1.5bn euros, with expropriations being the biggest issue, mainly due to their cost. The section to be constructed has been definitely concluded (Chania-Aghios Nikolaos), with a length of more than 180 km of covered motorway (2 lanes/direction and emergency lanes).

VOAK is considered to be the last “pending” motorway project of the country that is expected to complete the puzzle of the recently upgraded and eminently enriched network.

At this stage, the project has not secured its funding yet, an issue that will be sorted in the immediate future (by EIB), while all necessary studies have not been fully completed. Once everything runs smoothly, in 2019 the contractor could have been decided and towards the end of the same year, the construction works for this strategic road could finally begin.

Nikos Karagiannis-ypodomes.com

Follow Nikos Karagiannis on Twitter