Greece extends Kasteli airport bids to Oct. 27 - govt official

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29/09/2016 15:08

ATHENS, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Greece has extended by about a 
month to Oct. 27 the deadline for bids to build and operate a 
new airport on the island of Crete, a senior infrastructure 
ministry official told Reuters on Thursday. 
    "The (infrastructure) minister decided today to postpone it 
by a few days, after a request by four interested parties," said 
George Dedes, secretary general for infrastructure.  
    The project is seen as a test for investors' appetite in a 
country which is struggling to bring its economy back on track. 
     Greece signed up to a third international bailout last 
year. Since 2009, it has made several attempts to attract 
investors for the build-operate transfer (BOT) project worth an 
estimated 850 million euros  ($954.55 million).  
    But its debt crisis has deterred investors and prompted a 
roughly 60 percent drop in investments. 
    The government had initially set a February deadline for the 
submission of bids for Kasteli but the date has been pushed 
backed several times due to delays in preparing the necessary 
documents. The latest deadline was to expire on Friday.  
($1 = 0.8905 euros) 
 
 (Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou) 
 ((angeliki.koutantou@thomsonreuters.com; +30 210 3376436; 
Reuters Messaging: angeliki.koutantou.reuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: GREECE INFRASTRUCTURE/AIRPORT