Egnatia Odos is absolutely safe

ASSURANCES OF N. TACHIAOU FROM YANNENA

Nikos Tachiaos, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, provided many assurances that Egnatia Road is absolutely safe at noon on Sunday, from the Epirus Region building.

In his planned visit to Ioannina, for the second time in a few days, in order to put out the “fire” that the Epirus Regional Governor lit ten days ago, when he spoke at the meeting of the Epirus Region’s Regional Committee about an incompletely maintained tunnel at the height of Metsovos, the so-called Malakasi 1, Mr. Tachiaos was accompanied by Mr. Konstantinos Koutsoukos, managing director of “Egnatia Odos SA” and by the company’s president George Konstantopoulos.

With fine points about the role of Al’s statements. Confused by this great disturbance, Mr. Tachiaos, during a press conference, tried to convince the public that there is no problem with the specific old technical work of the Egnatia Road, which he also referred to as the Katara tunnel, acknowledging, however, that the distrust of the public is justified, one year after the fatal accident in Tempe… “To talk about traffic safety 1 year after February 2023, for the Minister to come out and say it is safe to cross the road, is not convincing by itself” he commented specifically.

Next to the Regional Governor of Epirus, Mr. Tachiaos, wanting to justify the noise, argued that Mr. Kahrimanis knew that the specific tunnel, built in the 80s, with the specifications of the time, was very old, “but there was an exaggeration in the presentation of the problem”… he noted with relative leniency about Kahrimanis’ statements to the Regional Committee…

Incorrect image

The incorrect image created in the world after the statements of the Epirus Regional Governor, according to the Minister, created a problem that had to be settled immediately.

After discussions with the District Governor on the northern branch of Egnatia towards Igoumenitsa, in the tunnel with the code Malakasi A, additional autopsies were carried out. Mr. Tachiaos even said that a few days earlier an autopsy had been performed by the contracting company TERNA and it showed that there were indeed some problems, but not as presented by the Epirus Regional Governor. He specifically mentioned that the water that gathered at the spot due to the snow removal was not draining well. These conclusions, however, he emphasized, “were far from saying that the tunnel is falling”… The absolute wording that he repeated several times was that the tunnel has no problems, there are only some point problems in the technical work that will be repaired in the next few days.

What was decided after the re-inspection of the tunnel, was to prohibit traffic from the tunnel and was followed by the control by the experts of Egnatia Odos who are very distinguished offices, they did an autopsy and came to the same diagnosis as that made by the Ministry. Therefore, it was decided to close the road and remain closed for a few more days, until May 1st, for the contractor to carry out some operations.

“The work will be finished during Holy Week, it was important for us that the operation of Egnatia proceed smoothly as many school trips are being planned at this time, people are preparing for the Easter holidays so that they can move without insecurity” noted the Deputy Minister .

All the tunnels of Egnatia Road after the concession and even during the handover will be checked and a very heavy maintenance will follow by the contractor, and new owner of the road, as it appears from the concession contract.

Ahead of Easter, Mr. Tahiaos assured once again that it is completely safe to cross Egnatia Odos, as long as the drivers respect the traffic rules.

The concession is in progress

The part of the concession of Egnatia Road to the private sector is progressing, but it will require more time, as mentioned by Mr. Tachiaos.

Together with “Egnatia Odos SA” the Ministry is creating the delivery mechanism for the road that will result from discussions taking place now and the contract will be ratified by law in parliament, in a separate procedure. During the summer, by July, it is estimated that the process will be completed and by the end of the year the issue of the concession will be closed. It will take some time for the handover, however, during this time, Mr. Tachiaos emphasized so that there are no doubts, it is clear that Egnatia Road has a maintenance contractor who covers the maintenance of the road at a high price, until the works are finally handed over to the concessionaire. The supervision of Egnatia Road will then pass to the competent department of the Ministry of Infrastructure.

Asked to comment on the entire handling of the story of the closure of the tunnel, Mr. Tachiaos completely covered the company “Egnatia Odos SA” stressing that the state company is under his supervision and there was an agreement from the first moment. “Egnatia Odos SA” did not make any announcement during this period, to ensure that everything said will be absolutely accurate.

Without many promises

Without particular news about the major road projects that are pending in Epirus, except for a promise for a request of the region that has been in place since the day after the delivery of the entire axis of Egnatia Odos – construction of a junction in Drisco – the short visit of Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Nikos Tahiaou in Ioannina at noon on Sunday.

The promise concerns the old request for the construction of an interchange in Drisco to serve the northern part of the Prefecture of Ioannina and Mr. Tachiaos stated himself, during the press conference on the safety of the Egnatia Road, that the specific project is the first priority, once completed the concession of Egnatia.

“As soon as the concession is completed, we will discuss with the concessionaire, projects like this have been done all over Greece” he noted characteristically. However, subsequently, Al. Kahrimanis reminded that the Region of Epirus had drawn up a preliminary study for the specific hub years ago and had even presented it publicly to the local bodies in an open event in the Regional Council room. In the specific conversation of the Regional Governor, Mr. Tachiaos counter-suggested that the Region put the money for the project… (perhaps the specific announcement by the Deputy Minister was not so well prepared after all?).

The other works

“You can’t escape Kahrimanis easily, either with a cap like the one of the two weeks today, or with the projects he is planning,” noted Mr. Tachiaos in a repulsive speech when asked about the discussions on the road projects of Preveza, the Ioannina-Kalpaki-Kakavia, etc. For the Preveza projects, let’s not forget, Tachiaos-Kahrimanis had come to a rupture months ago…

“We are discussing everything in a dynamic process, I am leaving here with an important file” replied the Deputy Minister without any details about the maturity of the discussions with the Region of Epirus and probably these projects did not concern the meeting of the two sides today.

Ioannina-Kakavia is obviously the big priority in front of us, Mr. Tahiaos emphasized and stated that the project will be contracted very soon and that within the year the contract will definitely be signed in order to proceed with the procedures and start the work. With the funding from the NSRF, the negotiation process is also underway with the EU to be able to release the necessary funds.