A “dusty” project, the BOAK (Northern Road Axis of Crete), is expected to enter its final phase today with the signing of contracts after 10:30 AM at the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Heraklion for the largest section of the project—namely the 157 kilometers of road connecting Heraklion to Chania.

Present at this important moment—for both the government and himself—will be Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who will speak at the related event. In the past, he had declared the advancement of this long-suffering road project as his personal challenge, partly due to his origin from Chania, and partly due to the recurring tragedies from traffic accidents.

The contracts will be signed with the contractor company (GEK TERNA), and, as previously mentioned, the new road axis will also include a parallel road network, bridges, tunnels, interchanges, and upgrades to the bypasses of the cities of Chania, Rethymno, and Heraklion. The project has been included in the “Greece 2.0” plan, meaning that part of the construction cost will be covered by the Recovery and Resilience Fund.

To make today’s signing possible and meet the deadlines of the Recovery Fund, the new leadership of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport has worked intensively in recent months. Recently, Christos Dimas submitted a legislative amendment to Parliament regarding expropriations. “We all agree that BOAK should cover the entirety of Crete, and that is the government’s goal, as the Prime Minister was the first to state,” Mr. Dimas said yesterday from Ierapetra, where he was present for the signing of accompanying projects for the Bramiana dam.

Tour, Rome, and Berlin

Kyriakos Mitsotakis is expected to take advantage of this “outing” to visit the village of Peza as well as the Plakiotissa dam, before returning to Athens in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister is also on a schedule of international trips, as he is expected to travel to Rome on Monday, where he will meet with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni. Announcements are also expected concerning the Greek railway system, following a meeting yesterday between Deputy Transport Minister Kostas Kyranakis and Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini in Rome.

It is worth noting that the Greek government has repeatedly urged the Italians to proceed with further investments in the railway network, while the Italian parent company of Hellenic Train is requesting Greek commitments to safety-related investments.

Next Tuesday, Mr. Mitsotakis will be in Berlin, where he will be honored by the Economic Council affiliated with Germany’s Christian Democratic Party. The new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has already begun a round of international contacts, will be present at the event and may have a brief one-on-one meeting with the Greek Prime Minister.