Cosco talks delay sale of Piraeus Port
The delay in the completion of a friendly arrangement between Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) and Chinese investor Cosco regarding a 226-million-euro investment the latter wishes to complete on Dock III of the port’s container terminal is likely to lead to a further delay in the tender for the port authority’s sale.
Against the wishes of the government and state sell-off fund TAIPED for the procedure to be accelerated, the one-month extension to negotiations between the authority of Greece’s biggest port with the Chinese group to the end of August will mean the project cannot plug the hole opened in the privatizations program by the failure of the tender for Public Gas Corporation (DEPA).
Cosco is the main suitor for OLP, but it cannot be 100 percent certain it will win the tender.
A further delay has been caused by the European Commission, which sent a letter to the government a few days ago asking for a series of clarifications about the memorandum signed about a month ago between Cosco and Piraeus Port Authority regarding the friendly arrangement.
As a result, the completion of the process was not possible by the original July 25 deadline.
