Portfolio of TAIPED keeps regional ports
State sell-off fund TAIPED will retain control of 10 regional ports of international interest, with the aim of their privatization or other forms of utilization, according to the draft update of the bailout agreement.
Despite the strong resistance expressed by SYRIZA ministers and deputies, the country’s creditors are insisting that the ports remain in TAIPED’s portfolio, against the government’s wishes for their transfer to the state asset hyperfund. The draft agreement has set the approval of TAIPED’s plans for their utilization as a milestone the country must fulfill.
The fund’s asset development plan (ADP) as formed earlier this year with the consent of the creditors provides for the announcement of a tender for the concession of the port of Alexandroupoli. This will start with the hiring of consultants, before an international invitation for expressions of interest.
The ports in question are those of Alexandroupoli, Corfu, Elefsina, Igoumenitsa, Iraklio, Kavala, Lavrio, Patra, Rafina and Volos. The shares of their port authorities were transferred to TAIPED in 2012.
The profits of those ports rose 40 percent in 2014 (year-on-year) and another 20 percent in 2015, earning the state a dividend of 5 million euros in those two years.
