Concerns by the Cosco-managed Piraeus Port Authority over “redtape-coated” obstacles in its 600-million-euro master plan materialized on a grand scale on Tuesday evening, with a decision by an influential culture ministry-affiliated council to declare a substantial portion of the municipality of Piraeus, including parts of Greece’s biggest port, as an archaeological zone.
The decision by the Central Archaeological Council (KAS) affects the modern-day areas within, what during antiquity, was the walled coastal settlement, including today’s built-up and commercially exploited coastline.
Another legal challenge will be heard on Friday, as two construction companies have sought recourse to the Council of State (CoS) over specific conditions – regarding disqualification – in a tender to build a new cruise ship terminal within the port authority, a project budgeted at 169 million euros. The project is financed by the EU Commission at a rate of 95 percent.
Yet another obstacle, according to port authority sources, is the difficulty in achieving approval of environmental impact studies for practically every project the Chinese multinational wants to commence, as well as numerous observations by a shipping ministry-affiliated committee tasked with overseeing port planning and development in the country.
