Mitsotakis: The restoration of the damages in Thessaly is a national bet – The cost is 3 billion

“The total compensation for the damages of Daniel and Elias will exceed three billion euros. Of these, 1.4 billion concerns only the road and rail infrastructures, as well as the restoration of our schools,” he said.

The prime minister emphasized “that the goal is that no citizen of Thessaly, however geographically isolated, should feel that they are not taken care of by the central state”.

“That is why we did not, in any case, consider technocratic cost-benefit approaches,” he added.

Earlier, Kyriakos Mitsotakis had attended the handover of the Lamia – Kalambaka section of the E65.

Three levels were announced during the presentation of the schedule and cost of the damage restoration program:

• road works,
• railroad network
• school infrastructure

Here is the Prime Minister’s statement:

“Mr. District Governors, Mr. Mayors, ladies and gentlemen colleagues in the government and in the Parliament, friends and friends, allow me to start with some thanks.

First and foremost, I want to thank all the executives of the second and first grade local government, as well as all the citizens of Thessaly, for their patience, determination, and persistence to correct the major disasters which we all experienced together, you first and above all, after the passing of “Daniel” and “Elias”.

And especially for the executives of the local government, let me also thank you for the excellent cooperation you had, and have, with the central services not only of the Ministry of Infrastructure, but with all the Ministries, with the Secretariat of the Government, because the relegation of Thessalia is a total bet that no one can miss.

I want to especially thank – because today we are presenting the projects concerning the Ministry of Infrastructure – the leadership of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the executives of the Ministry of Infrastructure, because, as you have seen, they bent over the problem with great persistence, in absolute cooperation with the local self-government, and today they presented you with a costed, but also very well thought-out plan to restructure the basic infrastructure of Thessaly.

I also want to thank the Union of Greek Shipowners and especially its President, Ms. Melina Travlou, for the speed with which she responded to my request for the shipbuilding community to assist in the great national effort to finance the reintegration of Thessaly.

In a few days, the not inconsiderable amount of 50 million was collected, a significant part of which, as you have seen, is directed to direct interventions, which will be done not just to improve but to actually strengthen the infrastructure of the many schools that were affected by the bad weather .

The project that was presented to you today – and we wanted to do this public event, because Christos is right to talk about accountability – is a very important and very expensive project.

I want to dwell a little on the cost parameter. The total restoration of the damages of “Daniel” and “Elias” will exceed three billion euros. Of this, 1.4 billion only concerns the road, rail infrastructure, as well as the rehabilitation of our schools.

And I also want to emphasize that this effort that was made, obeyed a central rule: that no citizen of Thessaly, however geographically isolated he may be, should feel that he does not have the care of the central state. That is why we did not consider, in any case, technocratic cost-benefit approaches.

The roads will be rebuilt better, so that even the most inaccessible corner of Thessaly can be covered. That was the direction we gave. Whether we are talking about the villages, the mountain villages of Trikala, whether we are talking about mountainous Argithea, or whether we are talking about the most isolated villages of Pelion, the road network will be built and built more durable than in the past.

Because if we learned anything from the passage of “Ianos”, it was that when we rebuild infrastructures that were destroyed with modern standards, they can indeed withstand phenomena of the intensity of “Daniel”. And the same specifications will be used for the restoration of the major infrastructure projects presented to you today.

Whether we’re talking about roads, whether we’re talking about bridges, whether we’re talking about rail, I think you’ve got a taste of the extent of the damage that we’re called upon to manage. The temporary retooling of the network has already taken place and by the end of 2025 the entire rail network will be delivered in a better, as I said, more resilient state than it was before.

1.4 billion euros, therefore, of which 600 million come from the resources of the Recovery Fund. The rest are resources of the NSRF and the State Budget.

And I would like to make two points here: firstly, if the country was not in a good fiscal situation, if our economy was not developing, if we had not recovered the investment grade, if the financing costs of the Hellenic Republic had not fallen, it would have been very doubtful whether we could secure from the national resources that sum which is so necessary to be channeled into Thessaly.

Second observation: the resources of the Budget are obviously not endless. In order to be able to direct more resources to Thessaly, we deprived them of some other projects. This is important to know, but prioritizing Thessaly is absolutely necessary given the extent of the damage you suffered from ‘Daniel’.

And thirdly, I do not want us to forget the European dimension of these resources. Regarding the Recovery Fund, I will say again that this is an additional financial tool, which our government negotiated and whose imprint is already visible across the territory. But we managed through a new renegotiation of the Recovery Fund to channel resources from the Recovery Fund to the restoration of Thessaly. It wasn’t easy. We succeeded and we achieved it. As we used resources of the previous NSRF, for issues related to compensations and state aid.

I say all this because we must not forget the importance of Europe’s footprint, not only in dealing with such natural disasters but overall in the financing of very large infrastructure projects, which are changing the face of Greece. It is perhaps the best answer to those who claim that the European elections are a boring process, which does not concern the citizens. What is happening in Europe concerns us, concerns you all very much. And I think the funding of these projects is the best proof of what I’m saying.

As, of course, we had European funding for another very important project. I felt, I must tell you, a great emotion today because it happened to me. And I say “happened to me”, because you know big infrastructure projects are sometimes a bit “ungrateful”, someone can design them, someone else can implement them, someone else can launch them.

Here, however, for the E65, which is being delivered to traffic today, a decades-long demand of Western Thessaly, for fast and safe transport to Central Greece and to Athens, I believe we have every reason to be proud as a government.

I will say again what I said in the presentation that took place in Xyniada two hours ago: a project that was completely stuck in the gears of the European bureaucracy, without substantial funding, we succeeded and unstuck it.

We are delivering today the southern section as well as the section from Trikala to Kalambaka, 135 kilometers of a single highway, and of course, within the next two years, the complete completion of the road will follow, so that Thessaly will also be connected to Central Macedonia and that the E65 can now be a project that will be completed exactly as it was designed.

What did he say about reparations?

Some more general observations about the future of Thessaly. Today, my dear Mr. Regional Governor, we did not talk about the rest of the issues, but we have talked about them many times. On the compensation issues, where I know there may still be some delays. We are doing our best to move as quickly as possible on state aid issues.

For the way in which we will manage the waters of Thessaly, the Thessaly Water Management Organization is voted in the Parliament, a very important reform, which will finally unify on one level a problem that requires a comprehensive look. The issues of the large anti-flood projects which need to be done and which need their own separate funding cannot always be the subject of any local pressures or local priorities.

All these are issues that obviously still concern us and concern me personally, because I will remain consistent with the commitment I gave you a few days after “Daniel”: that the restoration of Thessaly is a project of national scope, which requires and prioritization of resources but also the engagement of all the Ministries, and obviously also the Office of the Prime Minister.

Let me close with some references to Civil Protection issues, because we had a little test a few days ago. A lot of water fell, as you are very well aware, but I want to express my satisfaction that the Department of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, the Region, the Municipalities have all worked together very well, and as a result we have basically been able to manage this storm without any essentially a negative impact.

And I think that should be the model of cooperation from now on. Civil Protection is something that concerns us all, from every citizen who will ensure, for example, that his plot is clean in view of the fire season, the Municipality who will clean his wells, the Region which will must make the necessary openings in the streams and the central state, obviously, which has the planning but also the implementation of the large anti-flood projects, which in any case must be done.

The climate crisis is a reality. You will also see, and I will close with this, the images from Dubai. Notice now, perhaps the richest city in the world received—it’s worth noting this—a third, a quarter of the rain that Thessaly received. Just to get an idea of ​​what happened to “Daniel”. You saw the pictures in Dubai, a flooded city.

We know that we now have to face another reality. This is not an alibi for not doing something more. We simply recognize that the climate crisis is with us and that prevention often costs less than recovery. This is something that also concerns the anti-flood projects, obviously also concerns the protection projects in the face of forest fires.

And to close on a more optimistic note, although today I can distinguish for the first time a restrained – and that’s how it should be – optimism, to refer to something that the Regional Governor of Central Greece, Fanis Spanos, said, making a report on how North Evia was tested by the devastating fires of 2021.

And there we said that we will not leave the area. We supported it, we continue to support it and North Evia is already on its feet better, without meaning that there are still big priorities, such as the northern axis, which will be done, because it is our personal commitment that this important project will be implemented .

With a lot of work, with the cooperation of all of you, without looking at parties and colors and labels, the national bet of the return of Thessaly, be sure and certain that we will all win it together.

I wish you a happy Resurrection, a happy Easter and see you again”.