Moreas Motorway: major flood protection works to commence soon

The major flood protection works on the Morea motorway (Corinth-Tripoli-Kalamata axis and the Megalopolis-Sparta branch) are in the process of implementation. By decision of the Deputy Minister of Development and Investment, Giannis Tsakiris, the inclusion in the PDE of the project, which amounts at 79 million euros, was approved will and be funded by the European Recovery Fund.

The approval of the financing comes as a continuation of the decision from last autumn of the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Costas Karamanlis, who approved the projects. According to that order, these are additional works that “stick” to the current concession contract, as happened with the highways of Nea Odos (which manages the Ionian Road and the section of ATHE, Metamorfosi-Skarfia) and Kentriki Odos ( concerning the sections Skarfia-Raches of Fthiotida and Xiniada-Trikala).

Projects approved since December 2019

The flood protection works in Morea, are part of the decision of the Government Committee for Coordination of Large Infrastructure Projects of December 14, 2019, unanimously accepted the 02/12/2019 Recommendation of the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport for the execution of emergency anti-flood and anti-flood projects and motorways implemented in Concession Agreements totaling EUR 350 million (including the cost of the corresponding VAT). According to information from ypodomes.com, the total amount is expected to reach 500 million euros.

According to article 18.6 of the Concession Agreement, the possibility of assigning additional works to the Concessionaire is provided in application of the current provisions of the legislation on execution of public works for additional works in the field of concession contracts.

How the projects will proceed

The obligations of the Concessionaire should include the preparation within the next two months, of the final hydraulic studies (including the necessary veterinary, environmental, geotechnical, static studies as well as the delimitation studies that were not selected or not to be constructed as a matter of urgency and for the removal of imminent risks and which (studies) in any case should be started in total – up to twice the study budget of the corresponding one and those that will be implemented through the Concession Agreement assignment of Complementary Works.

The studies in question after their approval and after the completion of the required environmental and other permits will be delivered for implementation to the relevant bodies (Regions and Municipalities). These studies burden the concessionaire. For the State it is a condition that they are carried out at no cost.

Also for the needs of the execution of the said projects, the approval of the environmental conditions of the project will be modified regardless of the distance of the licensed project of the motorway from the respective hydraulic projects, if the latter are functionally included from the flood point of view in the motorway.

The maintenance of the flood protection works that will be implemented through the Concession Contract after the completion of the construction and their receipt, will be undertaken by the bodies that are legally responsible for their maintenance

Similar decisions are expected to be published for the highways of Olympia Odos and the Aegean Motorway.