Salonica works suffer setbacks
Thessaloniki at rush hour is virtually gridlocked, and will soon be worse off than Athens if projects promised 15 years ago, but bogged down in local and national politics since, are not carried out soon. The metro idea dates from 1987 and was agreed on in 1999. Work will start on the undersea tunnel in 2003 and will not be finished before 2008, despite Public Works Minister Vasso Papandreou’s assurance that it will be finished by 2006. The city’s new western exit is five years behind schedule, while the 32 car parks are still on paper. A ring road and five interchanges have still not been completed. But other works are needed if Thessaloniki is to meet its obligations as a Balkan hub, including the airport, expected to handle 8 million passengers per year but which is currently undergoing flight cutbacks. Water supply works are still not finished, 10 years on. Though the sewage treatment project went well – the only one to do so – and swans have reappeared in the Thermaic Gulf, one plant will hardly suffice for a city that is to host the European Union summit in 2003 and the Expo in 2007. Interchanges
