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Privatization agency: Int’l tenders for regional port services as of next month

By V. Vegiri

[email protected]

The process to grant concessions at the northern Greece ports of Kavala and Alexandroupolis will begin next month, according to the head of Greece’s privatization agency, the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF).

Speaking in Thessaloniki on Monday, HRADF executive president Aris Xenofos  referred to two separate international tenders for the concession of port services at the two locations, followed by tenders for services at the port authorities on the island of Corfu, the extreme northwest mainland port of Igoumenitsa and the central Greece port of Volos, possibly in the third quarter of 2019.

As opposed to the previous full privatizations of the Piraeus and Thessaloniki port authorities, which were memorandum-mandated obligations, the hard left SYRIZA government said only specific services will be privatized at regional ports in HRADF’s portfolio.

Xenofos added that an international tender, possibly by the end of the year, will also be announced for the creation of an underground natural gas storage site at the depleted south Kavala deposit.

Greece-based Energean Oil & Gas, for instance, is viewed as a possible suitor for the project, given that is already has a contract to commercially exploit a similar site until November 2020.