Greece sets new deadline for Kasteli airport-ministry
Tue Jun 7, 2011 12:40pm EDT
* Tender for 1-bln euro project pushed back for fifth time
ATHENS, June 7 (Reuters) -
Greece postponed the award of a 1 billion euro tender for a new airport on Crete on Tuesday, the fifth time it has pushed back a project seen as a test of investor appetite for deals in the recession-hit country.
Kasteli is the first major infrastructure project Greece's Socialist government has tackled since winning power in October 2009 and one of a series of big investments the country needs to kickstart growth and exit its debt crisis.
The deadline for the tender, which had been due to expire on Tuesday, is being extended to October 18 according to a decision by the Infrastructure Ministry, published on a Greek government website.
The ministry said interested parties have expressed concerns over the size of the project and its viability and that it had to postpone the tender to address their requests.
The initial deadline for opening bids and naming a winner had been set at Feb. 9, 2010.
Greece is one of Europe's top tourist destinations and Kasteli will become its second-biggest airport after Athens in terms of foreign traffic. It will replace Crete's outdated Heraklion airport, which is bursting under the strain of handling nearly 2 million tourists a year.
According to the document, some of the construction firms which have expressed interest are France's Vinci (SGEF.PA), the world's largest construction group and Bouygues (BOUY.PA), Greece's Ellaktor (HELr.AT), J&P Avax (AVAr.AT) and Archirodon.
The airport, which is expected to be operational by the summer of 2015, is co-financed by the government, the EU and the European Investment Bank (EIB).