PPP projects in Greece surpass 3 billion euro threshold

The 3bn euro threshold for PPP projects in Greece has now been surpassed. The method of Public-Private Partnership was introduced in the country about 12 years ago and the truth is that the first steps were particularly cautious.

In a country where constructions -until then- were largely implemented as classic public works, with distinct roles between the contracting authorities and contractors, PPPs seemed to be alien.

The Special Secretariat for PPPs was set up under Nikos Mantzoufas and the first project (i.e. 7 fire stations) were contracted bac in 2009.

It took some more years for this method to have the first “followers”, but again with limited popularity. However, what slowly tipped the scale was the results as even though as a method had a limited “charm”, the projects produced stood out in terms of appearance and operation efficiency, compared to another completed public project.

The key project

The 24 schools in Attica were a key project for the PPPs to start expanding in new areas. The result was so impressive that this method could promise a different, more sustainable way of implementing projects.

Since then, they have successfully entered into urban transport, waste management units, motorways, university buildings, dams, street lighting, broadband infrastructure, etc.

Our country has been distinguished for its performance in PPP projects, reaching the third place in the world from the World Bank, as in almost all projects there is strong participation and transparent procedures.

The Greek PPP projects continue to receive significant distinctions in terms of transparency and good practices in tender procedures. One of them, Epirus Waste Management Unit, received was awarded as “the infrastructure project of the year”, at the 3rd Infrastructure-Transport Conference in 2019.

“PPP projects are an ‘islet’ that can, under certain conditions, change broader mindsets and the quality of projects”, a market expert with knowledge on the subject told ypodomes.com.

It is no coincidence that all major companies in the country vote confidently in favor of the PPP projects, citing them in every field of discussion as a way out to the shortage of mature projects but also by participating en masse in the relevant tenders, especially in recent years.

Nikos Mantzoufas, being one of the longest-serving executives in a government position, now in the role of the Secretary General of Strategic Investments and PPPs, receives multiple requests for new projects, creating an important core for entrepreneurship and the constructions sector.

However, PPP projects are also a strategic choice for both the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ministry of Growth and Investments. Ministers Kostas Karamanlis and Adonis Georgiadis have repeatedly referred to them.

26 projects

In total, we can count 26 PPP projects from 2009 until today. Fourteen of them have been signed and either have been completed or their construction is in progress while another 12 are currently running, i.e. they are still in auction or in a tendering process. Altogether,they have a budget of 3.01bn euros, an extremely large amount if we consider that just 3 years ago there was a moderate acceptance of the method.

Fourteen projects concern the maiden projects for the 7 fire stations and two projects the school units in Attica (10 14), the telematics and the electronic ticketing systems for OASA, three projects for broadband infrastructure in rural areas (LOT 1, LOT 2, LOT 3), digital court records, and waste units in Western Macedonia, Epirus, Serres, Peloponnese and Ilia. These projects have a total budget of 822.2m euros.

Twelve projects, with a wide variety, are in pre-contractual procedures, from the approval of the inter-ministerial committee to the second phase of the tenders and they are equally of great interest. In general, the tenders have many important participations both from Greece and abroad. These 12 projects have a total budget of 2.18bn euros.

The largest project of this group concerns the ultrafast broadband infrastructure with 868m euros, followed by VOAK Motorway section, Hersonissos-Neapoli with 295m euros and Kalamata-Pylos-Methoni with 245.5m euros.

In the list we have three major projects for university institutes across the country: student dormitories in the University of Crete with 206.6m euros, in Democritus University of Thrace, with 105.4m euros and in the University ofThessaly with 91.5m euros. There is also have the IIBEAA (Medical-Biological Foundation of the Academy of Athens) with 58.5m euros.

New entries

In these projects, we have also counted those that have received significant approval from the PPP inter-ministerial committee, because it gives them the necessary acceptance to announce their tenders.

These projects concern the Havria Dam in Halkidiki with 110m euros, the street lighting in the Regions of Central Macedonia (12.4m euros), Epirus (6.6m euros), the waste management units in the western sector of Central Macedonia with 130m euros. and the Innovation Center with 58.5m euros.

However, other projects are waiting to be approved in the “queue” in order to start their implementation and these mainly concern waste management units, school buildings and new project areas that are constantly being added to the long list of Public and Private Partnership projects.