Rushed effort to boost profile
If the Greek civil administration had always operated at the pace it has been over the last couple of weeks, Greece would rival Denmark in state efficiency.
The ministries are scrambling to seal the major contracts with investors that remain pending; state sell-off fund TAIPED announced the sale of the 30 percent stake in Athens International Airport just before the elections; and the government is striving to complete at least one of the three ministerial decisions that are necessary for the development of the old Athens airport at Elliniko. There was even an effort Monday to find a solution to the problems of Piraeus Port Authority, but without success.
In the last few days the government has desperately been trying to prove it is a modern and efficient administration that will leave behind it a great wealth of projects. This is why the ministries have been working day and night over the last few weeks to construct an investment-friendly profile.
That was the direction pursued at the Infrastructure Ministry last weekend too. Dozens of decisions were published on the Diavgia government website on Saturday and Sunday, led by one stating that the consortium of Aktor-Autostrade Tech-Intrakat-Intrasoft International is the preferred bidder for the project of proportionate tolls (toll payments per kilometer).
The consortium landed the project with an offer of 290 million euros, even though it will cost 57 million euros more than the second bidder’s. The project has been strongly supported by Infrastructure Minister Christos Spirtzis despite the fact that the market considers its implementation simply implausible.
Equally rushed decisions are being made at the Digital Policy Ministry concerning the Syzefxis II project of telecommunications interconnectivity that has been delayed for years. On Thursday the ministry will hold a public event to mark the signing of the 108-million-euro contract.
The process regarding the telematics and the electronic tickets of the Thessaloniki Urban Transport Organization (OASTh) is being hurried too, with the bid deadline set for Thursday, three days before the election.
