Chr. Stylianidis: Attiki Odos could not implement the design it had promised us

The Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Christos Stylianidis, referred to the great problems caused on Attiki Odos, as a result of which thousands of citizens suffered, as well as to the responsibilities of the management company, speaking on the SKAI television station.

As he stressed, although in both meetings that took place before the occurrence of the phenomena, the management company of Attiki Odos told them that it had satisfactory vehicles, it could not implement the plan that had been promised to them.

“We had two meetings to prepare the companies and to explain to them how to prepare. There was an experience in these companies, in all those who have the responsibility of a specific road. Everyone said that Attiki Odos always had a very good performance. In the meeting Everyone was told how many vehicles they have. Attiki Odos told us that it has satisfactory vehicles. It seems that it could not implement its own design. “a clear success and we did not have any problems. Here we had problems. Based on the contract, Attiki Odos could not implement the design it had promised us”, Mr. Stylianidis underlined and added that if the design had been implemented based on its development Attiki Odos had a similar behavior as in Athens-Lamia, which is a more difficult area, the effects of the phenomenon would be much less ς.

“We decided and joined the traffic police in trying to eliminate the problems early on and we started to insist on the company with all the data. But I am not saying that there are no pathogens in the whole system, so we have to look at everything again. And the contracts “The role of the state, these are issues that will be the lessons of suffering and the problem to see the next day. This is also my apology to those who suffered because the system needs to be improved,” he said.

Asked why the vehicles continued to enter Attiki Odos, Mr. Stylianidis said that the company is responsible for who will enter and who will leave from the moment it agrees with the Traffic Police. “The comparison of Athens-Lamia and Attiki Odos I believe shows that when a proper cooperation is made, a proper coordination gives results in very difficult weather conditions”, he pointed out while emphasizing that the issue of Attiki Odos is confirmed by the events themselves so the developments in the leadership of the company as well as with the acceptance for payment of compensation to the citizens.

Mr. Stylianidis admitted that there were shortcomings and inadequacies at all levels of the implementation of the plan and for this reason stressed from the beginning that the State should apologize to those who suffered, but stressed that the phenomenon was very difficult. “It was a very difficult phenomenon with a snowstorm that does not occur often and creates such pressure and such a volume of snow that is difficult to manage. There is no doubt that there were shortcomings and inadequacies. responsibilities that magnified the problem, “he said.

Asked if they had been warned by EMY, Mr. Stylianidis said that there was a warning from EMY for intense phenomena but the intensity of the phenomenon exceeded any prediction. “It was such an intensity for it and it is called a snowstorm. But that is not an excuse,” he said.

Regarding the immobilized vehicles in other main streets of Athens such as L. Mesogeion, Katehaki and Marathonos, Mr. Stylianidis said that the Region is responsible for these central axes and in smaller streets the municipalities. He added, however, that the problem created on Attiki Odos played an important role. “This is the evaluation of the next day. I will not take responsibility now before I have a scientific evaluation,” he said.

He also announced that a committee of experts will be set up to evaluate all the problems that have arisen in the process of implementing the design. “It would be wrong and immature to distribute responsibilities without this scientific data”, Mr. Stylianidis underlined.

He also referred to the operation to free the citizens and their vehicles, which started last night. “Things went well. Last night a huge operation was carried out by Greek firefighters, Greek soldiers, Greek police, Civil Protection where 3,500 people were released under a strong avalanche. It was a heroic effort,” he said.

He also said that crisis management is not ready yet as the ministry, as he mentioned, is still under construction. “We will build a crisis management in a coordination center based on an AIGIS program that will be able to monitor everything with sensors. We do not have them at the moment, so we remain in the traditional method as it was built over the years,” he said.

“Lessons need to be learned from all of us and we need to do the planning, change things, we need to improve. It was a great release operation but there were other problems. We need to improve,” he concluded.

Source: AMPE