The aspirations of Panathinaikos for a new complex in central Athens to house its soccer, basketball and volleyball divisions edged closer to reality yesterday with a Finance Ministry pledge to the City of Athens for the provision of funds, early next year, that are expected to cover the project’s cost.

Work on the project, budgeted at 127 million euros, will begin in the new year, outgoing Athens Mayor Theodoros Behrakis said yesterday. He will be succeeded by the newly elected mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis on January 1. Both received a joint pledge from Finance Minister Giorgos Alogoskoufis at a meeting yesterday.

Panathinaikos, one of Greece’s biggest clubs, hopes that the project, to be located in Votanikos, just over one kilometer from Omonia Square, will be ready for its centennial year in 2008.

The project’s plan also entails the transformation of Panathinaikos’s traditional base, the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, into a park. It is situated in downtown Ambelokipi, one of the capital’s most congested regions.