Greece to invest another 3.5bn euros to expand and enrich its motorway network

With the construction works on the motorway network, completed, with the exception of E65, the next day is being sought in the field of major road-related projects. Even though a considerable part of the constructions sector in Greece has not realized it yet, the era of large-scale road projects in the country has now passed.
In fact, the motorway projects we expect from now on, for the most part, are… leftovers of the projects we had benn anticipating for decades.

However, over the next few years, more than 2bn euros are expected to be invested in the the motorways in order to expand the network and bring it in its final shape by 2022.

The projects being planned are mainly extensions of the existing axes, which will be carried out as public projects, while there is only one case of a whole new motorway: Crete’s Northern Motorway Axis, aka VOAK. VOAK will be the only new covered motorway in the country and its initial cost is estimated at 1.1bn euros. It will be a concession project rather than a public one.

In the mainland, however, we will probably see extensions of the existing network through NSRF and EIB funding tools, rather than the adoption of the concession model in order for the network to cover more areas and provide increased overall efficiency.

In Peloponnese we have the “natural” extension of Olympia Motorway to the Southwest, from Patra to Pyrgos. NSRF will cover 355 million euros.

In Epirus, we have the “natural” extension of Ionia Motorway from Ioannina to the borderline with Kakavia in Albania. The cost for the motorway section’s half length is approximately 340mn euros.

In Central Greece and Thessaly we have the completion of E65 with its Southern section (Lamia-Xyniadas) and its Northern one (Trikala-Egnatia), with a cost of 700mn euros.

In Attica a new “extension pack” for Attiki Motorway is being prepared with an unknown cost at the moment, although there is an estimation for about 1bn euros.

Aktio-Amvrakia Motorway in Western Greece is still under construction, requiring about another 170mn euros to be completed by 2021.

A new motorway with a smaller width, but not less in value is the 18-km long road linking the New Airport of Kasteli with VOAK, both future projects, with its cost being incorporated in the 500mn-euro worth investment.

The totale for these projects that will essentially complete the country’s “motorway puzzle”, ranges between 3.5 and 4bn euros, which means that the “Motorway Era” is not over just yet, at least for the next 6 years.

Nikos Karagiannis-ypodomes.com

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