“Statically, the Malakasi A tunnel on Egnatia Odos in Katara, has no, no problem”, the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Nikos Tahiaos, categorically emphasized in his statements, after the meeting of all the agencies involved on the issue, in the Region of Epirus.
Mr. Tachiaos, after pointing out that the issue of the problems in this particular tunnel came to the public two weeks ago, with an initial wording that gave a wrong image to the world, mentioned all the actions taken in the direction of identifying the problems.
As he assured, autopsies were carried out by competent and experts – third parties, a collection of the material concerning the tunnel from the beginning of its construction was made and some problems were found, but not of stability and safety of movements.
“There are some problems, but not the ones presented. The problems concern inflow of water that was not well drained when entering the tunnel. Due to the salts falling for snow removal, peeling problems were created. Statically, there is no problem. There are no such problems in a tunnel that has been created in solid rock. There are just some problems, so we decided to have the tunnel inspected. There is already a traffic bypass. It was checked by experts, third parties, who performed an autopsy and found the same picture. We decided to keep the tunnel closed for a few days, for the maintenance contractor to carry out some operations, which will prevent the possibility of any part falling from the walls, to rule this out”, said Nikos Tachiaos, among others.
Work on the tunnel will finish next week, most likely on Holy Wednesday. The deputy minister underlined that for the government, the safety of transportation, the feeling of security of the people, is important, in view of the Easter holidays.
He also emphasized that all the tunnels of Egnatia will be checked and the heavy maintenance of the road will be followed, as it follows from the contract. At the same time, he said that the completion of the E65 will give another breath to the region and that the highways in our country are traffic safety projects.
Source: RES-EMP
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Tags: Prefecture Tachiaos Ioannina static problem Malakasi tunnel Egnatia Odos
