Attiki Odos: the future of Attica’s modern ring road to be determined in the coming months

Following the finalization of the tender for the new concession period of Attiki Odos, both the Ministry of Infrastructure and the HRDH have started the procedures that will lead us to the start of the largest privatization of the Fund’s portfolio.

The new concession period that -with the current data- will start in 2024, when the existing concession expires, has already made the large Greek and foreign groups of the country to be strategically positioned with their sights at – what else – the acquisition of the “golden” contract.

The amounts that are heard for the price of the “new Attiki Odos” are dizzying and even reach 3 billion euros, without however (as in the case of Egnatia Odos), any confirmation or substantive basis. They are rather at a theoretical basis at the moment.

What will determine the rules, but also will give us some indicative numbers for the next day of Attiki Odos, are the studies that start in the Ministry of Infrastructure and HRDH.

The Ministry of Infrastructure has hired Hill International (for 167,000 euros), one of the largest consulting companies in the world, to deliver a report within 4 months from the day that the contract was signed.

What the company will be called upon to consider is, based on the concession agreement, first of all, whether in 2024 the conditions concerning both profitability, maintenance and consequently the coverage of all the technical and financial parameters will be fulfilled, and which are related to the provision of the fulfilment of specific obligations by the Concessionaire.

The HRDH

These results will essentially lead to the announcement of the tender by the HRDH which also proceeded to competitions for hiring consultants.

The Fund has announced three tenders for the recruitment of consultants with a deadline of bids on December 4, in which it offers for the technical consultant the amount of 1.85 million euros (amount without VAT), for the legal advisor 800,000 euros (amount without VAT) , while for the financial advisor Success Fee is provided as a percentage of the total financial consideration for the contract, while only the budget for Retainer Fees reaches 200,000 euros (amount without VAT) per year for a four-year contract or earlier completion and which will be deducted from Success Fee.

Of course, what is of great importance for one of the most important constructions in the country, is when the tender will be announced. As it is understood from the recruitment of consultants, we are moving towards an announcement within 2021, bearing in mind that in the unprecedented sizes of Attiki Odos, the battle that will be fought will be proportional – if not bigger – to the one we experienced in the case of Line 4 of the Athens Metro.

The alliances that will be set up for this competition are without a doubt a fact that will determine the wider industry in the coming years as it changes the balances that have been created in the field of construction business.

It is, after all, the ultimate asset which all the technical groups of the country will definitely want to add to their portfolio.