The General Secretary of Infrastructure, George Karagiannis, spoke to SKAI Radio and the journalist Aris Portosalte about the overall upgrade of the infrastructure of the city of Thessaloniki, with a series of projects small and large with a budget of over 1 billion.
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Mr. Karagiannis stressed that the government as a whole and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport have a special sensitivity in Thessaloniki and within two years gaps of decades have been filled. "In Thessaloniki we owe!", He said characteristically. "Because especially Thessaloniki faces issues of substance and not communication. "And when there are timeless problems that hold a city back, neither political egos and controversies, nor words of the air can fit," Mr. Karagiannis stressed.
In fact, he added that at the moment "works" are running if 1.2 billion. without taking into account the Metro and the upgrade of buses.
As the Secretary General of Infrastructure explained, with the "holistic plan that we are currently preparing - construction of new road projects and reconstruction of existing ones - we aim at better road safety and the reduction of accidents, the environmental upgrade of Thessaloniki as a whole, the improvement of our tourism product and the drastic reduction in transport time and costs ".
As said General Infrastructure Secretary, upgraded Thessaloniki Airport, an investment of 100 million euros and was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis already signed road link Pathe and Egnatia with 6 the jetty of the port city and early September in the sites, while at the end of August will begin the bidding process for the rail link 6 th Pier and the Suburban West Thessaloniki.
Answering the question about the Thessaloniki Regional, the General Secretary of Infrastructure, stated that it was designed before the 80's and no longer covers the needs of the city and for this reason the so-called "Thessaloniki - Flyover" was designed.
"This is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) of 13.5 kilometers and 370 million euros. This is an aerial bridge next to the Ring Road. Essentially 4.5 km of continuous bridge, 9 km of elevated ring road, ie a new road on the ring road. And we do not dwell only on that. We are also upgrading the Regional! Not only with asphalt paving but overall. In other words, we will rebuild it so that Thessaloniki can be completely decongested in terms of traffic issues ", concluded Mr. Karagiannis.
In fact, as he said, the tender has already passed to the Second Phase and until the end of the year there will be a temporary contractor, so that the construction works can start in 2022.
Regarding the technical characteristics of the 13 km project, it will have a 4.5 km continuous bridge, 9 level junctions, 8 new bridges and 3 new tunnels.
Finally, Mr. George Karagiannis also referred to the transport upgrade of the city since new buses are added daily.
"We are making a great effort at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport to upgrade the urban transport of Thessaloniki. We have received 235 buses in Thessaloniki, at the moment there are more than 450 and in September another 80 will be leased, and a partnership with KTEL to improve the quality of transport in Thessaloniki ", said the General Secretary of Infrastructure. ■