Attiki Motorway’s extensions to be implemented after 2019

Developments concerning Attiki Motorway and its extensions as well as the expansion of Suburban Railway’s network to Lavrio and Rafina have been postponed after 2019. Three major projects, that mainly concern Southeastern Attica, will unfortunately coincide with the elections year, making it harder for them to accelerate.

A few days ago, in Rafina, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Mr. Christos Spirtzis, spoke about the future projects in Eastern Attica. He said that in 2019, negotiations with the European Union concerning the funding of major road projects in Attica are expected to be completed. However, this development reminds us of Patras-Pyrgos Motorway project that fell onto 2015 elections, and, if we go a little further back in time, we will see that something similar happened to Kasteli Airport, a project, which was affected right at the beginning of the crisis, transferring the date of the relevant tender more than 10 times (!).

The scope of the construction works of Attiki Motorway’s extensions is not yet finalized, but the “favorites” to proceed to implementation are: the extension of Hymettus Western Ring Road, through an urban tunnel up to Vouliagmenis Ave. (close to Aghios Dimitrios Metro Station), the extension to Rafina in order to enable the port to operate and develop, the completion of Eghaleo Ring Road, the extension of Kymi Ave., while a proposal for an extension up to the the port of Lavrio is also on the table.

The cost for the above exceeds 1bn euros and it is expected to be combined with a new concession agreement that will include the existing Attica Motorway’s infrastructure (current contract is due to expire in 2024).

Railway

Railway projects include a 32 km long extension betweeen Koropi and Lavrio, with 7 stations and an estimated cost of 160mio euros and the extension between Athens International Airport and Rafina, which is about 7 km long.

For the above-mentioned projects, studies are required in order for them to mature and be able to claim funding, while for the projects of the Suburban there is a different implementing entity (ERGOSE), making it more difficult, theoretically, to see all projects to be launched combined, as a “bundle”. In any case, their completion should be expected after 2025, provided that their construction starts in 2020-2021.

 

Nikos Karagiannis-ypodomes.com

Follow Nikos Karagiannis on Twitter