Dutch fuel storage plan for Crete
A Dutch group is being pegged for constructing fuel storage facilities on Crete, an investment that could resolve long-term problems in the local fuel market and create hundreds of jobs.
Sources suggest that Vopak, the world?s leading oil and natural gas products storage company, has already applied for its investment plan to go through the fast-track licensing process.
Budgeted between 300 and 500 million euros, the Dutch investment was among the issues discussed by Development and Infrastructures Minister Costis Hatzidakis with Dutch Ambassador Kees van Rij yesterday in Athens.
The facility is destined to be built in southern Crete, in the area of Dermatos near Viannos. Vopak representatives are said to have already paid repeated visits to the island and to have met with regional as well as other local authorities. The construction of the project is expected to create some 1,500 jobs and around 200 permanent positions.
?We will do all we can because investments are a condition for job creation,? said Hatzidakis.
