Tunnel construction is stopping, but we’ve already paid the tolls in gold!

By Marianna Tzanne

The whole project of Olympia Odos is about to be suspended if the banks do not consent to the continuation of the funding, which has stopped since the end of December. At the same time, the work at Ionia Odos, which connects Antirio with Ioannina, has stopped for 1,5 month now, while on the Central Axis of Greece (E65), only one of four sites of Terna (at the Karditsa intersection) is open but underactive, since the Spanish companies have ceased work for a while now.

About 40 workers remain on site, according to the president of the union, Dimitris Kavouras. The rest have been laid off. At present, negotiations with banks are literally suspended in midair, as the government's proposal to find an interim solution until funding is finalized under the new agreement that will take months, has not been met with a positive response.

Banks seek permanent solutions and assurances from the government for the sustainability of the projects, which will ensure that they will get back the money they have granted. From this point of view, and despite government assurances that the matter will ultimately be resolved even at the expense of the state, the projects are hanging by thread. And while the contracts are sinking, tolls are collected regularly.

It is characteristic that yesterday for the first time, Olympia Odos tried to link the agreement with the banks with the movement against tolls, by saying that as long as the bars remain up, the banks will be reluctant to «trust» the projects and therefore fund them.

Possible dates for the suspension

Information from within the unions of workers in Vinci at the Korinthos-Patra section, indicate that there is talk about possible dates for suspending work, with the landmark being April 27. This is a nightmarish scenario but not excluded by sources from the consortium. They link the date with the VAT payment from the Finance Ministry, a solution that is considered temporary and certainly does not solve the serious financial problems of the motorway.

The workers’ concerns are exacerbated by the mandate given yesterday at the construction sites of Vinci, to shut the entrances to the project’s tunnels, the only part of the project progressing at an intensive pace in the last months. In fact, barriers were recently erected within the tunnel to prevent accidents from passing cars and trucks.

According to the president of the «Galaria» workers’ union, Theodoros Tselepis, all these preparations suggest that the consortium is preparing to shut down. As he explains, this development is «convenient» for Olympia Odos, who will suspend payment to the 2.500 workers that have remained since the recent lay offs. «Otherwise, you have to deal with 2.500 redundant workers» Tselepis says, and stresses that the consortium will hire as many workers as it needs under corporate contracts when the whole project restarts.