Major infrastructure projects in greater Athens-Piraeus emerge as highlights of govt’s recovery plan

The next four months are now regarded utterly decisive for the Greek economy, at least in the mid-term, as the first tourism figures of the decisive 2021 season will be correlated following months of pandemic-related lockdowns and still timid cross-border travel, while September looms as the month when domestic lenders and transnational investment banks, such as the EBRD, will possibly announce funding of major private investments with EU Recovery Fund cash.

Exceeding forecasts for GDP growth in 2021 and 2022, returning the Greek economy – especially the tourism sector – to a “normal setting” after the bruising Covid-19 crisis and actually commencing work on a series of major infrastructure and improvement projects in the greater Athens-Piraeus area – where roughly half of Greece’s population resides – have more-or-less emerged as the center-right Mitsotakis government’s axes for continued political dominance in the east Mediterranean country.

Projects range from preserving, protecting and opening up forestland on the foothills of Mt. Parnitha, centered on the former royal estate of Tatoi, to a staggering 70-kilometer bike and walking path extending from Piraeus southeast as far as iconic Cape Sounion, to redeveloping the blighted Votanimos district near downtown Athens, upgrading the Athens Olympic complex (OAKA), and, pre-eminently, commencing work on the landmark Helleniko privatization in coastal southeast Athens – the unofficial “jewel” in the crown of the so-called “Athenian Riviera”.

The Helleniko project, won in an international tender by Athens-based Lamda Development, is billed as worth seven billion euros.

It’s specific sites along the greater Athens area’s coastal stretch that attract the focus of several multi-million euro investments, with most included in the Greek recovery plan approved last month by the EU Commission, including the areas around the indoor Peace and Friendship arena in the Neo Faliro district, which extends to the Starvos Niarchos Foundation complex, the Alimos marina and further southeast to the Flisvos marina and entertainment complex.

In the Greek capital’s gritty southwest corner, a 247-million-plan envisages the redevelopment of the Votanikos/Eleonas site into a greenspace, with a new football stadium and other sports and commercial complexes.

Finally, upgrades at the Athens Olympic complex (OAKA), which hosts several large 2004 Olympic facilities that are in good condition and still operate, are budgeted at 43 million euros.