The 13th report of the Commission for Greece shows good progress in the course of the privatization program. In 2022, it is full of milestones that seal the future of important assets, such as the regional ports and the Egnatia Odos highway, while putting in big competitions, such as the new concession of Attiki Odos. Meanwhile, the utilization of important assets, such as 30% of Eleftherios Venizelos, remains frozen after the unfavorable landscape formed by the pandemic.
Regional ports and Egnatia Odos are the big bets for the year. In fact, these are the projects that kept pace with the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) program, and in particular the regional ports accelerated, when everything around them almost came to a standstill with the arrival of Covid-19. There are two big “closures” in 2022. Apart from DEPA Infrastructure, for which the agreement was signed in early December and the financial closure is expected soon, progress is such on the Egnatia Odos that the concession contract can, according to the report supervision, be activated by the end of the year.
Next steps for ports
With regard to the regional ports for which there has been a strong investment interest, the procedures are in full swing. The draft concession agreement for the port of Alexandroupolis was uploaded to virtualdataroom on December 15, 2021. At the same time, the process of expropriation of real estate in the mountainous zone of the port is underway, which is the main pending issue.
According to the report, the co-responsible Ministries of Finance and Shipping have decided on the next steps to secure the necessary resources that will be allocated to the expropriation process. The submission of binding offers for the acquisition of at least 67% of the share capital of the Alexandroupolis Port Authority, is scheduled for the end of April. The selection of the preferred investor is expected by the end of July and the financial closure by the end of December 2022.
For the sub-concession of the commercial port of Kavala, binding offers are expected until the end of February 2022. The selection of the preferred investor will follow, which will be determined by the officials of the Commission at the end of April. The financial closure is expected at the end of December 2022.
In addition, the concession agreement document for the port of Igoumenitsa was uploaded, on February 9, to virtualdataroom for potential investors. The backlog of the port’s mountain zone, as clearly defined in the concession agreement, has been resolved in order for the tender process to proceed. The submission of binding offers is scheduled for the end of June and the selection of the preferred investor is expected by September 2022.
The second phase of the tender for the port of Heraklion will start by the end of the month, with the publication of the shortlist of pre-selected investors. The submission of binding offers is scheduled for the end of September 2022.
The “small Ellinikon” casts off in July
Meanwhile, the interest is focused on Heraklion for another reason. The so-called “small Ellinikon” enters the pipeline after the emergence of REDS as the preferred investor for the coastal area of 345,567 sq.m. in Gournes, with a total price of 42.2 million euros at nominal prices. The tender dossier is to be sent to the Court of Auditors by the end of this month for pre-contractual audit. The financial closure is expected at the end of July 2022.
At the end of the year, it is determined by the report of the Commission and the submission of binding offers for the new concession of Attiki Odos highway. Scheduling that seems quite ambitious for such a large project. The tender for the 25-year concession is held in two phases, with the first one closing, if there are no requests for postponement, on April 20th. The completion of the evaluation and the announcement of the start of the second phase is expected by the end of June 2022.
