Mitsotakis at the inauguration of the Lamia-Kalambaka section of the E65: Construction sites give way to ready-made projects

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is present at the event for the handover of the Lamia – Kalambaka section of the Central Greece Highway E65.

This is the 135.4 km of the total 181.5 km of the E65, which is connected to the Egnatia Odos.
The inauguration will take place at 10 am at the 26th km of the Central Greece Motorway (E65) – Othrios Area Tunnel. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Minister of Infrastructure Christos Staikouras, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Nikos Tachiaos will attend the ceremony.

Afterwards, the prime minister will attend and speak at the presentation on the restoration of damages from the “Daniel” and “Elias” bad weather, in Mouzaki Karditsa.

The prime minister’s speech

The speech of Kyriakos Mitsotakis:

“Your Excellency, Mr. Regional Governors, dear colleagues in the government and in the Parliament, dear Mayors, friends,

Today is indeed a great day for Central Greece, for Thessaly, for Western Macedonia, for Epirus, as we are now delivering the largest section of a very important road to traffic. And I know very well, especially for Western Thessaly, for Trikala, for Karditsa, for Kalambaka, how important this road is and how it was actually a dream of many decades to finally be completed.

Two and a half hours to go from Athens to Karditsa, three hours to go to Trikala. Accessibility for such a beautiful but also such a tested part of our homeland, Western Thessaly. And of course, the prospects for the connection, as we said, with the completion of the project, with Western Macedonia, with Epirus. A road of truly enormous developmental importance.

I too would like to add just a few thoughts about the history of this project, supplementing what Mr. Peristeris said and what Mr. Minister said. A project which literally – like many others – went through forty waves, was also tested in the financial crisis. At some point, it actually came to be a “stump”, with only the middle section having been delivered, with the southern section facing very significant technical problems and the northern section, which essentially completes the road and makes it economically competitive, being in the literally in a financial vacuum.

And indeed, if it were not for the persistence of the government and a very tough negotiation that took place then with the European Commission, we could never have secured the completion of the northern section. A northern section which, I believe, will also be delivered within the next two years at the latest, so that this entire road will now be completed, exactly as it was planned 15 years ago.

I don’t need to go into detail about what it means for the Region of Thessaly, in this case, because it will be the direct beneficiary of such a project. Let me just add to its obvious development dimension and the very important issues that have to do with road safety. We know very well that every time a new motorway is delivered we have a significant reduction in road accidents and these roads come and contribute to our national strategy to halve road fatalities by 2030.

However, I would like to repeat something that the Minister said and which I think has a special significance, because I believe it is also connected to the period we are currently going through, as we are a little less than two months before the crucial European elections of 9 June: these projects, this project and many other projects would never have taken place without the financial support of the European Union.

New Democracy is the faction that put Greece in Europe, kept Greece in Europe and is fighting for Greece to become Europe at all levels, claiming financial resources and translating this relationship of ours with the European family into tangible projects for benefit every Greek woman and every Greek man.

Here you see two financial tools: the NSRF, known to all of us, but also the Recovery Fund. I want to remind you that the Recovery Fund is a new financial tool, which was created immediately after the Covid crisis. We also put our own little hand, with our persistence, to create this Fund. We have claimed a total of 36 billion euros in resources, in direct transfers, grants and loans.

And the northern part of the E65 is being built and financed with resources from the Recovery Fund. How we managed to get a road project into the Recovery Fund is another story, which I don’t need to go into too much detail. But precisely because the project’s schedule coincided with the Recovery Fund’s schedules, we succeeded and added another financial boost to the European resources we have available for the important infrastructure projects.

Finally, I want to emphasize something that I also mentioned when we met a few days ago in Lesbos, to deliver a very important road of local interest: in 2019, when the Greek citizens trusted us for the first time, we committed to turn Greece into a vast construction site. Today, construction sites are gradually giving way to ready-made projects, to the benefit of all local communities. But, of course, the planning and completion of major projects is an ongoing process, which continues with unabated intensity.

We are slowly closing our arrears with the past in terms of the completion of major national highways. The Patras – Pyrgos road is also nearing completion and the long pending Northern Road Axis of Crete has already been set in motion, so that we can be sure that we have the funding as well as the shape that will carry out this very important road project for Crete.

At the same time, of course, other projects of regional importance are being launched: the connection of Lamia with Karpenissi, the part of the northern axis of Evia, so that North Evia can be accessed by a modern and safe road, the Yannena – Kakavia road.

All these are backlogs from the past, which are being launched by this government, with careful planning, with secured funding and always overcoming the obstacles that inevitably arise in such difficult and complex technical projects.

Finally, I would also like to thank everyone who contributed to this very pleasant moment today: all the leadership of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, the services of the Ministry and of course the construction company, which delivers the southern section, but also a large part of the northern section before the contractual delivery date.

I’ll say it again: we have excellent technical companies in Greece. These projects, in terms of specifications and quality, have nothing to envy from the best projects being built in the world and Greek construction companies are “steam engines” of development in our country. They create many jobs and are participants in the great effort we are making to launch a sustainable development, the imprints of which can be felt by all Greek women and men.

I am also looking forward, therefore, in conclusion, to run – as I am sure, all of them – for the first time this road. Be pleasantly surprised by the speed with which we will reach our destination, but also by how impressive these large infrastructure projects are.

And of course, in a short time from now, this road will also become a habit. We will have forgotten the turns of Domokos. We will take him for granted as well. Just remember that nothing is a given and all that we appreciate today and soon we will not appreciate because they will have become part of our daily life, it took a lot of work and a lot of effort to finally bring them to completion.

So, I wish the new road in the south to be warm and safe again, as well as half of the northern part of the E65″.

After the completion of the event, the Prime Minister made a short stop at a point on the Trikala – Kalambakas road, where, accompanied by the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Staikouras, he spoke with the Mayor of Kalambakas Lefteris Avramopoulos.

“We wanted to come here, all the way to Kalambaka, because in addition to the southern part that we have just handed over to traffic, we also give traffic the first section of the northern part of the E65, which connects Trikala to Kalambaka, so that it can one can now get from Athens to Meteora, from a closed and safe highway, in much less time than it would have taken before the whole project was completed. And of course, I don’t need to emphasize how important a destination Meteora is and how much I believe that this road will contribute even more to the development of Kalambaka and the wider region”, emphasized the Prime Minister.

“For those of our fellow citizens who have not yet planned their Easter holidays, to think very seriously about Western Thessaly, which was tested so much by “Daniel”. Now the access is much easier, they can come here, support the local community and enjoy the amazing beauties of this place, coming much faster and with much more safety”, added Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Faster, safer and cheaper travel

The E65 Central Greece Motorway (Lamia – Karditsa – Trikala – Kalambaka – Egnatia Odos), 181 kilometers long, is the backbone of the transport infrastructure of Central Greece and the third vertical national axis of the mainland.

It is being built, with funding from the NSRF and the Recovery Fund, entirely in a new design, based on the most modern international standards and absolute respect for the environment, and ensures faster, safer and more economical movements.

Today, the entire southern section (PATHE – Xyniada) and the Trikala – Kalambaka section of the northern section of the highway are being delivered. The middle section has already been completed (Xyniada – Trikala) and within the next two years the delivery of the entire northern section, which will connect E65 with Egnatia Road, is expected.

With the delivery of the first 135 kilometers (Lamia – Kalambaka section), the travel time from Athens to Trikala is reduced to 3 hours and from Athens to Karditsa to 2 hours and 35 minutes. While, with the completion of the Kalambaka – Egnatia Road section, the route from Lamia to Egnatia Road will take 1 hour and 45 minutes, the Athens – Grevena route 4 hours and the route from Athens to Metsovo and Kastoria 4.5 hours.

With its completion, the E65 motorway is going to give a significant development boost to Thessaly and Western Macedonia, having at the same time a deep footprint in the transport sector, as it connects the ports of Volos and Igoumenitsa and contributes to reducing by 2 hours the journey from the port of Piraeus to the Western Balkans.