Prime Minister Samaras visits the Platamonas bypass tunnels project

“Greece has rebooted its potential and we are ready for the next day, looking into the future and taking steady steps forward,” Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Thursday underlined on the sidelines of his visit to a worksite for the bypass tunnels at Panteleimonas in Pieria, northern Greece, designed

“The Platamonas bypass, the Stylida bypass and the Tempi tunnels will improve the national motorway network and contribute to the reduction of road accidents by 70 pct,” Samaras said, adding that this much-needed motorway project will be ready in a few months.

The prime minister was briefed on the progress of the project by Secretary General for Public Works Stratos Simopoulos, who pointed out that its built based on European specifications by Greek and foreign contractors.

Aegean Motorway S.A. CEO Dimitris Gatsonis told reporters that all worksites are in full operation, employing a total of 1,500 people, noting that roughly 200 Greek companies, most of them locally-based, participated in the construction work.

According to the project's timetable, it will be completed by the end of 2015 but certain of its sections will be open to traffic by the end of summer.

The 25-km-long project (14 km of motorway section and three twin tunnels) will reduce travel time between Athens and Thessaloniki by up to 45 minutes. One of the three tunnels will be six kilometres long, making it the longest in the Balkans.

The prime minister was accompanied by government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou, Macedonia-Thrace Minister Theodoros Karaoglou, Deputy Education Minister Kostas Gioulekas, ND MPs, candidate for Central Macedonia regional governor Yiannis Ioannidis and Pieria Deputy Governor candidate Dimitris Christogiannis.

Endorsement for Ioannidis candidacy

The prime minister also used the opportunity of the visit in order to endorse and stress his backing for Ioannidis' candidacy.

"I call on you to support Yiannis Ioannidis for Central Macedonia regional governor," the prime minister said, calling Ioannidis "a symbol of northern Greece".

"I want you to know that this is the position of the party and that this is our position because we truly believe that Yiannis can do it, as he has proved in the past, above and beyond parties, above and beyond individuals, he will do what he always does successfully. With the right tactics, for the work to succeed, with the right heart in order to unite all Greeks," Samaras said.

Greece will soon be returning to growth, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said on Thursday while addressing the Greek-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce on "Challenges and prospects for the Greek economy: The day after".

Commenting on recent articles in the foreign press concerning scenarios of a Greek exit from the euro in the summer of 2012, Stournaras said they indicated both how crucial that period had been and the distance travelled by the country since that day.

source: ΑΜΝΑ