A business plan announced on Tuesday by Greece’s privatization agency (HRADF) refers to the processes for continuing the privatization of various state-controlled entities, sales of real estate and even remaining stakes already privately managed entities, such as the Hellenic Telecoms Organization (OTE), although no timetables or deadlines were included.
High up on the privatization “menu”, according to the Hellenic Asset Development Fund (HRADF), is a pending assessment by private sector consultants (Credit Suisse, Piraeus Bank) on how to best exploit the sale of a 5-percent stake still held by the state in OTE.
Additionally, HRADF referred to a pending sale of 11 percent of the Athens area’s water and sewer utility (EYDAP) shares to investors, also after a relevant assessment is provided by a consultant in tandem with a revision of the current decades-old concession allocated by the state to the utility.
As far as the very closely watched Helleniko privatization is concerned, one of the biggest property development projects in Europe, HRADF said pending issues include revisions to a relevant legal framework, a casino license for the coastal southeast Athens site and the issuance of needed ministerial decisions on land uses and building co-efficients, among others.
Finally implementing a MoC and MoU to sell-off two state-owned tracts of land (Afandos) on the holiday island of Rhodes by implementing a bevy of administrative and legal requirements is also on the agenda.
Tenders for concessions of specific activities at 10 state-run port authorities around the country is another long-expected initiative, as the 10 smaller ports’ shares have been transferred to HRADF.
The extreme northeast port of Alexandroupolis has reportedly dominated foreign investors’ interest, more so than Igoumenitsa, in the extreme northwest, and Volos in central Greece.
Fifty-one percent of the Piraeus Port Authority’s (OLP) shares have already been transferred to Chinese multinational Cosco, with another 16 percent to be transferred after a 300-milloin-euro investment program at Greece’s biggest and busiest port is completed over a five-year period.
