Carousel of responsibilities for the closure of Attiki Odos begins – What the concessionaire will invoke

By Eleni Botas

In the next few hours, after the return of normal traffic and the restoration of the problems, the official position of the Attiki Odos administration is expected to be on what happened on Monday morning with the confinement of dozens of drivers for over 22 hours, on the highway.

The announcements are expected in the coming days with the executives of Attiki Odos giving the picture of what took place from Sunday afternoon before the onset of bad weather, until today.

According to information, what Attiki Odos is expected to cite is that on Sunday, in the meeting held with the leadership of the Civil Protection, the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Christos Stylianidis, was asked to ban the traffic of heavy vehicles on Sunday afternoon. National Road and Attiki Odos, which however was not accepted, arguing that this would create a problem in the supply of Attiki stores.

Then on Monday morning at 8 in the morning the special crews of Attiki Odos threw salt along the highway, while shortly before 9 in the morning, with a decision of the Traffic Police, the circulation of heavy vehicles in the section of the A.TH.E. , and in particular from the Uneven Junction (A / K) Kalyftakis, in the traffic flow in the direction of Lamia, and from the Anisopodos Junction (A / K) Inofyta, in the traffic flow in the direction of Athens.

This resulted in all the trucks located at these points entering the Attiki Odos until shortly after 2 pm, where the Traffic Police decided to stop the traffic of heavy vehicles on the Attiki Odos.

However, within 5 hours (mediated between the traffic ban on the National Road and the traffic ban on the Attiki Odos), about 5,500 heavy vehicles crossed the highway.

This, according to the consortium executives, had the effect of blocking the highway, while as Attiki Odos announced, trucks folded at the connection of the Vrilissia tunnel with the Ymittos Peripheral and in the area of ​​Gerakas in the current to Elefsina, with the result that they were completely closed. the road in both traffic streams. As a result of this situation, the snow machines that could not overtake, operate in reverse motion, thus delaying their passage.

In fact, in their briefing, they are expected, according to information, to repeat that both Attiki Odos and all roads, no concessionaire and no company, can decide to remove the traffic of vehicles, other than the Traffic Police.

Finally, the executives of Attiki Odos are expected to refer to the fact that for about 20 years the highway has existed, no similar incidents have occurred, while even last year when there was heavy snowfall in Athens, there was no problem in the traffic of vehicles along of the road axis.

It is worth noting that the responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the highway lies with ATTIKES DIADROMES SA, in which AKTOR Concessions participate with a percentage of 52%, ABAX with 28% and the French EGIS with a percentage of 20%.

The CEO of “Attiki Diadromes” resigned

Yesterday, however, in the aftermath of the developments, he submitted his resignation to the Board of Directors of ATTICA ROUTES SA. Mr. Vassilios Chalkias, CEO and member of the Board of Directors of the company, since its establishment in 1999.

“The safe removal of the last people trapped on Attiki Odos was recently ensured,” Mr. Chalkias said in his letter.

“However, as the head of an entire mechanism, I feel the need to facilitate the company and submit my resignation from a member of the Board of Directors and the position of CEO, wishing the best to my replacement. It was my honor to serve ATTICA ROUTES SA. in this emblematic work of Attiki Odos “, he adds.

The Board of Directors, after thanking Mr. V. Chalkias for his 20-year offer to the company, accepted his resignation and decided the assumption and exercise of the duties of Mr. V. Chalkias, by Mr. Aristophanis Papadimitriou, Traffic Director of the company, until the selection of a new CEO.

K. Ah. Karamanlis: Responsibilities will be assigned

“We pledge that we will not cover responsibilities. We will examine what has happened, who is responsible,” said the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Costas Karamanlis, speaking yesterday in a central news bulletin.

“The concessionaire is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the road. All the meetings had taken place, all the assurances had been given. What should not have been done,” he added.

According to the minister, this is the first time that a private company is asked to pay compensation for what happened and for the suffering of the citizens.

“For the first time we saw that beyond the existing institutional framework, a step was taken that has never been taken in Europe either. The government and the prime minister themselves came and demanded the payment of 2,000 euros, a generous amount. Can someone agree or disagree with the amount, but we all agree that this has not happened in similar cases.Besides that, there is a special institutional framework to see where the responsibilities are and the bells will be heavy. “We will do it,” he said.

“We promise that we will not cover responsibilities. We will examine what has happened, who is responsible”, he added and stressed that the amount of 2,000 that will be given by Attiki Odos, does not block future claims of drivers by the company. “You can have other claims, the right to move legally is not deprived,” he noted.

Attiki Odos: The dividends and the ongoing tender

Attiki Odos with shareholders AKTOR CONCESSIONS SA with a percentage of 65.75%, AVAX with a percentage of 24.19%, ETETH (belonging to the AVAX Group SA) and EGIS PROJECTS SA with 0.04 %, is the largest highway within the urban fabric of Athens.

The construction cost of Attiki Odos amounted to a total of 1.3 billion euros, of which 65%, ie 822.2 million, were covered by the concessionaire company Attiki Odos SA. with equity, but also loans. 35% of the total expenditure was covered by the State with the participation of European resources.

In 2018, the revenues of Attiki Odos amounted to 185.7 million euros, in 2019 to 192.7 million euros and in 2020 to 151.5 million euros.

For the year 2020, the concession of Attiki Odos contributed 151.6 million to the total income of the Ellactor Group amounting to 892.3 million and 105.6 million to the total profit before taxes, interest and depreciation (EBITDA) of the Group amounting to 30 million

Respectively for the year 2019, Attiki Odos contributed 192.7 million to the total income of the Group amounting to 1,273.6 million and 134.0 million to total profits before taxes, interest and depreciation (EBITDA) of the Group amounting to 80 million.

In addition, for the period 01.01- 31.03.2021, the concession of Attiki Odos contributed 30.6 million to the total income of the Group amounting to 193 million and 18.6 million to the total profit before taxes, interest and depreciation (EBITDA) of the Group amounting to 40 million

A few days ago, the HRDH announced the tender for the concession of the Attiki Odos for the next 25 years, which expires in October 2024.

The concession of the road axis is expected to be claimed by large construction groups from Greece and abroad as well as strong funds.