As the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Ach. Karamanlis mentioned during an online event of the TEE of Central Macedonia, on "Central Macedonia 2022: Year of Reconstruction and Creation"; the first pillar is the reform of the institutional framework of public procurement. In addition, the Parliament has been recently working on a relevant bill. The second pillar is a unified National Strategic Infrastructure Plan that it has been developed for the first time and the third pillar, the costing and utilization of every available financial tool.
With the above three "weapons" in the last two and a half years it has become possible for emblematic works to "unblock" after years and for new works to begin.
Specifically, the Minister mentioned the final solution to the issue of the Thessaloniki metro, the construction of Line 4 of the Athens metro, the extensions of Line 3 to Piraeus, Patras-Pyrgos, the Northern Section of the E65 and the acceleration of work of the Southern Section , the Northern Road Axis of Crete and Aktio-Amvrakia, but also in the projects in every corner of Greece: Road Axis of the Southwestern Peloponnese, Bralos-Amfissa, Bypass of Chalkida and Psachna, Eastern Regional of Alexandroupolis of Egonon.
Projects in Thessaloniki and Central Macedonia are currently a priority
Mr. Karmanlis has underlined that Thessaloniki and the broaden region of Central Macedonia have been a priority in the government's planning. This is the first time that, especially for the region of Thessaloniki, such a comprehensive project is been presented and comprises major projects such as:
- The Eastern Regional of Thessaloniki, the so-called Flyover.
- The road and rail connection of the 6th pier.
- The extension of the metro to Kalamaria.
- The roads of Thessaloniki-Edessa and Drama-Amfipolis.
But also a series of smaller, but very important projects that will contribute decisively to the substantial upgrade of the city: Construction of 16 new school units, reconstruction of the Courthouse, road connection with the new Pediatric Hospital in Filiro, road Thermi-Galatista, the orphan kilometer of Potidea, but also the anti-flood works in the area of the vegetable market, the arrangement of the streams in Oreokastro and the drainage of the rains in the Municipality of Kalamaria.
The new projects ahead
The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport has also referred to the new generation of projects that will change the productive model of our country. "Now that all the necessary major road projects have taken their course, it is time for the development, at last, of our railway network. Railways are the projects of tomorrow. They have a dual purpose. On the one hand, they are upgrading Greece on the map of freight transport. Greece is becoming a logistic hub. But it is also in full harmony with the EU 's green development agenda. That is why we announced the largest package of railway projects ever made in Greece, amounting to 4 billion euros, with the process of design and construction. At the same time, the program of upgrading and electrification of the existing network of OSE, amounting to 1.2 billion euros, is in progress ", he stressed.
As he explained, the goal is to connect all the major ports of the country with a modern and reliable railway network. And to create modern shopping malls near them. "Only in this way will Greece become a hub for infrastructure and combined transport in Southeastern Europe. "Only in this way will we contribute to the change of the productive model of the country and we will finally get out of a vicious cycle of disinvestment and lack of competitive services, especially in the transport sector", explained Mr. Karamanlis, pointing out that in this way thousands of new jobs are created. .
