E65 set for completion thanks to EU funds
Lawmakers approved an amended deal on Tuesday to allow European Union recovery funds to pay for the final leg of a key highway that has been held up for years by spending cuts imposed during the financial crisis.
After years of delays due to lack of funding, Greece built four toll highways as part of concession deals with private contractors.
But it struggled to complete construction work for the last 70 kilometers of a 182 km highway intended to link central and northern Greece and facilitate trade with Europe through the western port of Igoumenitsa.
Greece will get nearly 450 million euros out of total funds of €31 billion it has secured from EU’s €750 billion fund to build the final part of the so-called European route E65. [Reuters]
