Bids sought for south metro line
The Public Works Ministry yesterday launched the process for the construction of a new Athens metro extension that will link the southern suburbs with the existing underground network. The 350-million-euro tender for a 5.5-kilometer line from the Aghios Dimitrios station to Hellenikon was launched a month ahead of schedule, despite the scrapping of initial plans to build the extension above ground. A ministry announcement said yesterday that a decision was made to build the line underground as the previous plans would have involved cutting down 540 trees and destroying some 63,000 square meters of greenery along the central partition of Vouliagmenis Avenue, where the track was to have been built. Work on the route, which will include stations at Ilioupolis, Alimos, Argyroupolis and Hellenikon, will start this year and should be finished by 2009.
