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‘Salvation board’ of the Greek state in OSE

By Fotis Fotinos

“Salvation board” of the Greek state to OSE. Due to the inability of the Organization to collect the monthly state funding, as it is not tax aware, the suspension of payments – offset and the collection of OSE debts to the Greek state due to loan collateral are extended until the end of 2022.

According to the explanatory memorandum of the relevant amendment of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, which is included in a draft law of the Ministry of Finance, “the proposed regulation is an extraordinary and temporary, but necessary, measure, which attempts to address the lack of liquidity of OSE “due to his inability to collect the monthly state funding, as he is not tax aware”.

At the same time, it is underlined that “the proper operation of OSE is endangered, as well as its financial viability, if the Organization will not be able to perform its financial transactions under normal conditions, while, at the same time, there is a risk of interruption of maintenance of national railway infrastructure, and therefore risk of non-provision of passenger rail transport “.

The two main sources of revenue of OSE

According to the financial statements of the first half of 2021, the current liabilities of OSE exceeded the current assets, while the total equity had become negative.

According to railway workers, a key element for the financial consolidation of OSE is the completion of the process of writing off its obligations to the Greek state (these are loans that were concluded for the construction of railway infrastructure), in order to cover the exceeding of current obligations.

It is noted that OSE’s revenues come mainly from two sources: the state subsidy and the usage fees of the railway companies.

In recent years, the annual state subsidy amounts to 45 million euros (OSE employees say it should be higher), while in 2019 the access fee to the railway network amounted to 16 million euros.

According to railway workers, it is obvious that the “key” to improving the competitiveness of the Greek railway is the network.

Increasing capacity and speeds (minimizing sluggishness) is the biggest “bet” for the infrastructure manager, OSE.

This increase will come through the adequate maintenance of the network and the completion of the signaling / remote control systems.

Source: Capital

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