Tuesday, April 23, PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis will hand over the southern section of the E65 facilitating travel from Lamia-Kalambaka, noted by Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Nikos Tachiaos, speaking on ERTnews about ongoing major projects aimed towards supporting local economies where he also emphasised that additional labour force is imperative to follow through on construction works of these projects. A ribbon will be cut tomorrow for the E65, while the three-kilometer tunnel Lamia-Xyniada will be delivered before Easter allowing access to holidaymakers for travel via the new route to Karditsa, Trikala, Limni Plastira, the mountains of Mouzaki, Argithea, and Kalambaka. The Kalambaka-Egnatia segment will be delivered by the end of 2025, and on February 6, 2027, the project in Kasteli, Crete will also be completed. The deputy minister went on to underline the need for 400 workers to complete the projects. He also went on to talk about the auctioning off of €470 million worth of railway projects so as to upgrade lines running from Domokos and Larissa and the perpendicular axes of Larissa-Volos and Paleofarsalos-Kalambaka.
He stressed that all projects require progress in land acquisition stating that the bigger issue is the lack of labour workers, crews, machine operators saying that it is a challenge to be working on so many projects simultaneously.
Kastelli’s airport in Crete is a large venture that requires an additional 400 workers for its completion. Deputy Tachiaos emphasised that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is making efforts to secure staff through intergovernmental agreements, in the likes of India.
Moreover, emphasised were also the challenges of managing construction projects while facing strikes related to trials. He mentioned the Chania-Heraklion concession project, which requires time for contracting involves banks and loans. Regarding the Eastern Regional or FlyOver endeavour discussed was the publication in the newspaper “Avgi” where it highlighted the difficulty in reversing the construction site’s current situation. Deputy Tachiaos addressed reactions to the project, expressing concern that many of them have a political message particularly during the election period. Despite the need to restrict traffic on the regional roads, the deputy minister mentioned Egnatia and its road’s operation as well as its night waste collection by the Municipality of Thessaloniki assuring that further necessary measures would be implemented.
