8 billion euro Hellinikon Project is set to move ahead

The 8 billion euro Hellinikon Project to turn Athens former airport site into a multi-purpose complex that will include hotels, luxury apartments, amusement parks, restaurants, bars, and a casino is moving ahead.

The agency overseeing public-use spaces in the Hellenikon investment project held its first meeting on Friday, with Interior Minister Alexis Charitsis in attendance.

The meeting of the nine-member board of the Agency for the Management of Common Spaces in the Metropolitan Axis of Hellenikon-Agios Kosmas, as it is formally known, was also attended by the coordinator of the project Theopisti Perka, representatives of the Finance and Interior Ministries, the secretary of the local New Democracy office Tassos Giaitanis, Hellinikon SA and Lamda Development.

The largest investment of South Europe, worth 8 billion euros, will change the coastal landscape of Attica and involves several ministries, agencies and local municipalities that will be affected by the project.

"The long process of implementing the emblematic investment of Hellinikon both symbolically and financially marks Greece's passage to the era of growth," Charitsis said. "The agency's formation is a great achievement because it places local government at the centre," of the project, he said.

Perka said that the call for tenders for the casino on the premises will begin shortly, and called the formation of the agency an unprecedented effort.

The mayors of Ellinikon and Alimos also added that the ambitious project will revive the adjacent towns.

*Source: AMNA