Operators of highways to seek damages

Compensation for highway concessions is back on the agenda. One after another the selected contractors are filing notifications of the huge decline in toll revenues at the Infrastructure Ministry, triggering the procedure to calculate compensation for their contracts.

However, the highway operators have not managed to show a united front as most of them want the damages in cash so they can cover their loan and operating obligations, while one of them – Attiki Odos – would prefer to see its concession contract extended.

The reduction in traffic due to the measures introduced to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus has amounted to 50-70 percent for the country’s main highways, although operators have stopped publishing uniform statistics.

The ministry is maintaining a wait-and-see stance for the time being, preparing for the discussion which is expected to begin in the coming months.

This follows three waves of compensations, from 2008 to 2016, which have more than doubled the actual costs of the projects for the state and the European Union, taking them to 6 billion euros.