WRITTEN QUESTION E-3389/98

by Konstantinos Hatzidakis (PPE) to the Commission

(17 November 1998)

Subject: State of progress of the Egnatia Road project

The Egnatia Road Project is one of 14 major projects of Community interest which are being co-funded by the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund. For the six-year period from 1994 to 1999 ECU 825 million have been set aside under the Second Community Support Framework (CSF) for Greece, while provision is made for a contribution by Greece of ECU 550 million. Recent reports from a variety of sources concur that the project is progressing very slowly.

In view of this, will the Commission state:

1. What is the overall take-up of appropriations for the project so far and, if this is unsatisfactory, what is the reason for this delay?

2. What percentage of the scheduled national financial contribution has been paid by Greece so far and what provision has been made to ensure that the national contribution is paid in full?

3. What action will be taken should Greece fail to take up the full amount of appropriations committed under the Second CSF for this project within the predetermined time-limit? Will the unutilized resources be carried over to the next CSF for Greece or will the appropriations be forfeited or will some other course of action be taken?

Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission

(8 January 1999)

Construction of the Egnatia motorway is cofinanced both by the European regional development fund (ERDF) under the Community support framework (CSF) and by the Cohesion fund. The total length of the motorway is 680 kilometres. Of this, 120,5 kilometres were constructed before 1994, 497 kilometres are scheduled to be constructed in the period 1994-99 and 62,5 kilometres are to be constructed afterwards (for the moment, no financial ressources have been allocated for this final portion).

Of the 497 kilometres to be constructed in the period 1994-99 and on the basis of current programming, 364 kilometres are cofinanced by the "Road axes" operational programme of the CSF and 133 kilometres are cofinanced by the Cohesion fund.

The situation concerning tendering for these 497 kilometres is that 403 kilometres are under construction, with 41 contracts, 30,5 kilometres should be tendered by the end of 1998, 27,5 kilometres should be tendered by the end of 1999 and 36 kilometres (Panagia-Grevena section) will be tendered in the year 2000, following the decision of the Greek supreme court to ask for a new study for this section in order to improve protection for the brown bear.

Under the Road axes operational programme total public expenditure is ECU 825,6 million, of which ECU 495,4 million are the ERDF contribution and are totally committed. Under the Cohesion fund public expenditure is ECU 360 million of which ECU 223 million are from the Fund and are totally committed. A European investment bank (EIB) loan of ECU 215 million is used to cover part of the national contribution. The national contribution is covered by the public investment programme of Greece, and partly cofinanced by the above-mentioned EIB loan. Payments by the national authorities from the beginning of 1994 up to October 1998 amount to ECU 222,2 million for the Egnatia project in the framework of the Road axes operational programme and ECU 207,6 million for the projects cofinanced by the Cohesion fund.

On the basis of the forecasts made by the SA Egnatia, which is responsible for the construction of the project, the ERDF and Cohesion fund contributions and the EIB loans will have been spent by the end of 2001, which is the time limit foreseen by the relevant regulations.