Authors: Leonidas Vatikiotis, Zarotiadis Grigoris

Title: Privatization through concession: The peril to public interest from the concession of “Egnatia motorway”

Abstract

The last 20 years in Greece and abroad (from Latin America to European Union), concessions, as a special form of Public and Private Partnerships (PPPs) have been used broadly as a measure to increase public revenues, to reduce the extent of the state and create new fields of profitability for the private sector. In Greece motorways cover the biggest share of the concessions.

In our study first we examine the experience of the concessions in Greece and other European countries, like Italy. Our focus is on the Egnatia motorway which extends to the north Greece. We present a chronicle of the creation of the Egnatia Odos. Its main novelty is the results based forecasts for the Operation Maintenance and Commercial Exploitation of the asset which will be granted in a concession contract for 35 years. In addition we present a scenario of public management of the asset without concession in a depth of 35 years and proposals for investment of the future revenue, with the last burden for the road users to the benefit of the public interest and the Greek society.