TAIPED heralds new privatization projects
Greece's privatization agency TAIPED is planning a series of selloffs over and beyond the scheduled sale of 30 percent of the firm managing the capital's international airport and of 100 percent of gas distribution network DEPA Infrastructure in order for the government to achieve the target set by international creditors of 2.4 billion euros, TAIPED's executive president Aris Xenofos has said in an article in The Economist's annual report, the World in 2020.
In the article, Xenofos flags 65 percent of gas supplier DEPA Commercial, ten regional ports and a competition for the storage of natural gas reserves in the region of Kavala.
He also points to promising pieces of real estate including a former American military base near Gournes in Iraklio and the site of the former Olympic Equestrian Center in Markopoulo.
According to the data presented by Xenofos in his piece, some 20 percent of foreign direct investment over the past few years had come from privatizations.
Since its establishment in 2011, TAIPED has made use of more than 9 billion euros in state assets with the benefits for the economy estimated to have exceeded 20 billion euros.
