PM to attend event marking start of long-delayed Elliniko investment on Friday

Work on the big investment project at Elliniko, the former site of the Athens airport in southern Athens, will finally begin on July 3, nine years after the country launched its first tender for the sale and long-term lease of the vast plot.

The event will be marked with a ceremony that will be attended by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Lamda Development, who is undertaking the investment, plans to turn the seaside plot into a complex of luxury residences, hotels, a yachting marina and casino at a total cost of about 8 billion euros.

The first phase of the work will involve demolishing structures and buildings inside the old airport and is expected to last 3.5 years. During this time, Lamda will built the casino, two hotels and several skyscrapers that will house offices.

The ceremony will start at 8.30 a.m.

The landmark project, part of a post-bailout agreement between Greece and its lenders, has been plagued by bureaucratic hurdles, legal wrangles and political resistance.

The Greek government first launched a tender for its sale and lease in 2011 but legal hurdles pushed it back another two years.

Lamda Development finally signed a 915 million euro deal for a 99-year lease in March 2014.

The Elliniko airport shut down in 2001 to make way for a bigger one in Spata, eastern Attica, that began operation on 28 March 2001, in time for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.