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K. Karamanlis: The projects of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport are at the heart of the green agreement

The Green Deal runs through the entire policy of the Ministry, said in his intervention the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Costas Karamanlis, at the conference “Green Deal Greece 2022”, organized by TEE and economix.gr and held at the Cultural Center Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

Opening the section “Sustainable Infrastructure and Transport”, Mr. Karamanlis stressed that, for the ministry, the goals of sustainability as they derive from the principles of the Green Agreement, are not a whole set of goals to be achieved, but a central agenda, the which permeates all the parameters of the policies and projects that it has under its supervision and implements the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.

Giving praise to the TEE, which characterized him as the most valuable advisor and an extremely effective collaborator, the minister referred to the comprehensive plan of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, which will make a decisive contribution to achieving the goals of the green agreement.

In this context, the minister underlined that in the last three years the ministry has prepared and implemented the largest infrastructure project that has been done in Greece after the Olympic Games, totaling 13 billion euros. These are, as he said, projects that were either blocked or new ones that matured with great speed. Of these projects, he stressed that 8 billion projects have already been auctioned, while 3.2 billion projects have been contracted. He underlined that all the projects of the ministry have in any case a green sign and made a special reference to the Metro projects, as primarily green projects.

He also highlighted the sustainable aspect of major road projects, which he said would relieve congestion in major urban centers such as the extension of Kimi Avenue and Flyover in Thessaloniki to make it, as he characteristically said, “our life lifeless” in the cities.

He also stressed that flood protection projects are green, which in practice face the serious problems created by the climate crisis. But also irrigation, water supply and land improvement projects or water resources management projects.

The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport made a special reference to the strengthening of public transport, major railway projects and the development of electricity.

He stressed that Athens and Thessaloniki are among the few cities in the world that have increased their urban transport fleets in the midst of the pandemic, also stressing that the network has been expanded with new tram trains, which is the most environmentally friendly means of transportation. “We did something unprecedented. We introduced the leasing process for the first time in the Greek State”, said the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport and added: “We cooperated with individuals”, commenting: “Today we have a strike in Athens, which afflicts all citizens, for this very reason: “Because today we are expanding our cooperation with the private sector and we want other private buses to serve the great transport needs of both Athens and Thessaloniki.”

Mr. Karamanlis also stressed that the tender for the supply of new buses has been launched. “We will gradually receive 1,300 environmentally friendly buses to Athens and Thessaloniki. Imagine: We are a country that has had to buy new buses since 2009. This competition is underway and most of the new buses will be low emission, electric and CNG “, he added.

The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport also referred to the bill passed about 1.5 years ago for the so-called SVAK, ie the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans, as well as the issues of energy upgrading and sustainability of buildings constructed by agencies such as KTYP SA. .

Regarding the railway, he underlined that it is in the heart of the Green Agreement, emphasizing that he has received the position he deserves from the current government, proposing in this regard, the package of railway projects amounting to 4.5 billion. Regarding the importance and necessity of the specific projects, Mr. Karamanlis explained that the ministry took it for granted, ie the connection of all major ports with the road and railway network in order, as he claimed, for the country to become a hub of Southeast Europe.

Regarding e-mobility, the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport stated that the ministry is implementing a comprehensive plan, recording its 3 most basic points. With the first point the renewal of the car fleet, emphasizing the additional incentives, for the purchase or rental of electric cars or two-wheelers, for renewal with electric vehicles of the companies fleet, but also replacement of TAXI, with a subsidy. In fact, as he said, this is an issue that was not on the agenda of the previous government. So, the current government, as he said, has accelerated the pace to the maximum. In this regard, he cited European data, based on which sales of electric cars from 0.4% in 2019 has risen to 7%, which is encouraging and shows how he stressed that the effort should be continued. The second point is the installation of infrastructure for easy charging. In fact, as he said, from the 58 publicly accessible charging points that we had nationwide in 2019, today they have reached 1200. He stressed that the agreement and cooperation with the Concessionaires of the main highways in our country was crucial in this regard. In order to highlight the progress that has been made, he said that today, the main road network of our country has coverage with chargers of 50kW and above at a density of up to 60 km. implementation of the electronic database of the Register of Infrastructures and Electricity Market Bodies (M.Y.F.A.H.), which as he said will soon be available as a mobile application.

Finally, Mr. Karamanlis stressed that the plan of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport is inspired by the three fundamental goals: better daily life for citizens, development and protection of the environment.

Source: Capital

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