METKA gets its first ever road project

METKA, the construction arm of Mytilineos Group, will undertake to build a segment of the Ionian highway in Western Greece.

It will have to proceed fast, though; the project must be completed by 2023 or risk losing European Union funding, which Greece must then return.

Construction of the Amvrakia-Aktio segment had stalled since October 2019, when GD Infrastructure, the runner-up in the open bidding for the project, had gone to court when it was awarded to the Aktor-Terna construction consortium, winning a stay decision.

Faced with the looming deadline of 2023, the government decided to nullify the previous competitive tender in January, calling on interested bidders to re-submit proposals. This move risked further delays through legal challenges. In the end, METKA was the only bidder and was awarded its first road-building project. 

METKA must complete the first 18 kilometers of the project within 15 months. As Infrastructure Minister Kostas A. Karamanlis remarked, this will replace an antiquated road segment notorious for the number of traffic accidents that occur there.