Egnatia Highway makes slow progress
The completion of the Egnatia Highway has often been promised, but large sections are still under construction and the most difficult have not even begun, nor are there the funds to begin them. Deadlines announced every so often by the government, obviously to serve its own public relations requirements, are not kept. It will be some years before it will be possible to drive from Igoumenitsa on the west coast to Kipi on the eastern border in just six hours (currently 11.5 hours), as has been promised. For example, in 1994, the then-deputy public works minister, Ioannis Souladakis, said that within five years Egnatia Highway would be ready. Three years later, the prime minister said at the Thessaloniki International Fair that it would be finished by the end of 2000. Former Public Works Minister Costas Laliotis later set a final date of 2004, but just last month his successor, Vasso Papandreou, postponed it to the end of 2005, a date regarded with some misgivings by experts in Egnatia SA. The highway is of great geostrategic importance for the Balkans and southeastern Europe as it will link large industrial centers in the West to the East. It will also contribute greatly to the socioeconomic and cultural growth of Epirus, Macedonia and Thrace through which it passes, and Greece generally, as it will halve journey time between its eastern and western borders. Company officials such as Giorgos Tsitouridis confirm that 300 kilometers of highway will be ready by summer, and a total 400 kilometers will be ready by the end of the year, 60 percent of the eventual 680 kilometers. «We are fighting a battle against time,» said Tsitouridis, expressing reservations as to whether the road will be finished by 2005. These reservations concern sections through rugged terrain such as between Metsovo and Grevena, at Asprovalta, Thessaloniki and the Nestos diversion, for which funds have not been secured. The New Democracy party deputy for Thesprotia, Antonis Bezas, who monitors the project for ND, says that while there are inherent difficulties, these should have been foreseen at the outset. He does not see the project completed before 2010. «The Public Works Ministry has for years been trying to absorb funds and convince the public by means of various devices that it is moving ahead. It has constructed the easy sections, virtually abandoning the difficult parts,» he said. According to company figures, the following sections of the Egnatia Highway are already or will be open by summer: – In Epirus, two small sections between Igoumenitsa and Ladohori and Eleftherohori and Tyria (for local traffic). – In Western Macedonia, the 60 kilometers between Grevena and Polymylos, Kozani. – In Thessaloniki, between Ionia and Titan (where the asphalt had to replaced), the Analipsi-Nymfopetra stretch in Lagada. – In Eastern Macedonia, the 19-kilometer Kavala-Chryssoupolis diversion. – In Thrace, the section between Vaniano, Komotini, Mesti and the Alexandroupolis diversion. In 2003, another 64 kilometers will be ready, another 109 in 2004. Afterward, matters become more difficult. About 94 kilometers between Metsovo and Grevena, Nestos and Asprovalta present geological problems. There are fears that the 2005 deadline will have to be extended. For a 54-kilometer stretch, no funds have been found. The Egnatia Highway is an extremely large project by Greek standards (the longest highway under construction in Europe at this time), with major difficulties in the rugged Pindos and Vermion mountains, and requires a total of 45 kilometers of tunnels and covered bridges and another 40 kilometers of bridges over gorges. The bridges under construction in Kastania and Metsovo are awe-inspiring. One, over the Arachthos, is 1,000 meters long; the Driskos tunnel is nearly 5 kilometers long. The highway was planned in the early 1990s and construction began in 1995. There have been several changes, over the Arachthos and at Metsovo, chiefly due to soil instability, at Dodoni because of the archaeological site, at Grevena because of the bear sanctuary, among other reasons, all of which set back the work and raised costs. The project began with a 400-billion-drachma (1.2 billion euros) budget. Now, tenders stand at 5.8 billion euros (1.99 trillion drachmas) and climbing. Of interest to other countries as well, such a vital project will not be abandoned. But when it will be finished is the question, as official deadlines have proved less than reliable.
