The list of major projects of the Recovery Fund has been submitted

The Secretary General of Infrastructure, George Karagiannis, spoke about the big projects on the Market Watch show of the TV station Action 24. More specifically, he referred to the major projects, the procedures for changing the law on public procurement, while he revealed that the list of major projects of the Recovery Fund was submitted.

Specifically for the projects of the Recovery Fund, Mr. Karagiannis said that he has worked intensively in the ministry in August and the first relevant list has already been submitted to the five-member committee which will work out the total package of 32 billion euros. He underlined that the proposals have been collected from the Regions and the Municipalities.

“All the projects related to the constructions have been collected, the list is going on and we are in the final stage at the moment” he stressed.

The restrictions

The Secretary General of Infrastructure stressed that the limitations of the Recovery Fund are very specific. 70% of the projects must have been contracted by the end of 2022 and 30% in 2023, the disbursements must be completed by 2026, so intensive work is needed to make sure that the projects that will be included can be contracted and completed. He noted that for this reason the changes of law 4412 on public procurement are important.

He first talked about the projects that will proceed in the next period. “Last year we received zero design maturity in projects, we worked very systematically and already 20 days ago we auctioned the flyover, a project that will change Thessaloniki, which concerns the upgrade of the regional and a 4.5km overpass and total intervention 13km “said the Secretary General of Infrastructure.

For the projects that will proceed in the next period, George Karagiannis gave a clear picture. As he said, BOAK will proceed with a project of 1.5 billion euros, where all the studies have been assigned and the environmental approval remains so that in 2021 we can pass to the final phase of the tender. He described it as a very difficult project that in 2022 will have been contracted.

The extensions of Attiki Odos

He also said that the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Costas Karamanlis, has already announced the extensions of Attiki Odos, which he identified as: the extension of L. Kymi to the National Road with an auction at the beginning of 2021, the extension to Rafina and the third project, which will change the traffic in Attica, is the Urban Tunnel that will connect Katehaki with L. Vouliagmenis and consequently to Elliniko. For the latter, Mr. Karagiannis noted that the project has work to do and needs to be further studied but complements the ministry’s planning for Attica.

Regarding the contract of Attiki Odos, Mr. Karagiannis said that the ministry has hired a technical-financial consultant and the results of the relevant study are expected, while he stressed that the contract for the concession of the axis is complex and was one of the first made in the country.

“This means that we will have the first results in the next period so as to learn how to proceed and exactly how to do it and it is the responsibility of the HRDH to announce the relevant competition. “Our responsibility is the extensions of Attiki Odos”, he said characteristically.

The changes of law 4412/2016

When asked by Eleni Botas about the absence of public works and the structural problems that exist in them, Mr. Karagiannis said that an effort is being made to amend Law 4412/2016 on public procurement. He clarified that this is a Community law that can not be removed but can be improved. “We have worked all this time with both market players and those who knew the legal framework. It has become a drafting committee, we are in the final stage.

In the coming days, we will deliver the final draft for the part that concerns public works. In projects over 50 million euros, arbitration will be introduced so that we do not get involved with procedural entanglements, we will simplify the procedures so that we do not have these perpetual lawsuits, we will proceed to the private supervision to untangle things and run the proceedings faster, In general, we will change the philosophy in places that the law and the Community directive allow us to overcome the obstacles you mentioned, “said the Secretary.

Regarding the Metro line 4 that is under auction, Mr. Karagiannis stated that he is optimistic that with the further justification made by Attiko Metro, the project will be able to proceed and it will be seen if in the coming days there is an appeal against this new justification. He even said that the ministry hopes that this time neither of the two finalists of the project will proceed to a new appeal for the good of the country. He predicted that at the beginning of 2021 the project will have been contracted.