The important perspectives that open up for private projects in our country were highlighted in the panel entitled “Investments in Infrastructure – Catalyst in Southeast Europe”, within the scope of the Southeast Europe Connectivity Forum II conference, which will take place today and tomorrow at Makedonia Palace Hotel.
A catalytic role is played by Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), as highlighted.
At the same time, a significant portion of bank financing is directed toward green development and tourism projects, with an emphasis on hotels.
The projects in which METKA participates and the importance that the company attributes to PPPs were mentioned by Dinos Benroubis, President and CEO of METKA, the who analyzed the reasons why the company he heads claims a leading position in the infrastructure and concessions market.
“Today, the company is focused on investing in PPP projects and concessions in order to be a reliable and timely builder, leveraging the strong position of Mytileneos,” noted Mr. Benroubi, making particular reference to the FlyOver project, which is in progress in Thessaloniki. AVAX is also participating in this project and, as I said, will significantly contribute to improving the city’s connectivity.
Focusing on the banking sector, he highlighted that Mytileneos’ strong balance sheet and capitalization are a guarantee of credibility to guarantee better financing conditions in relations with Greek and international banks.
The role of Greek banks
“Through long-term financing, infrastructure projects and energy projects are implemented” emphasized Theodoros Tzouros, Executive General Manager of Corporate and Investment Banking at Piraeus Bank highlighting that during the period of the debt crisis, foreign banks withdrew from the Greek market, which resulted in Greek banks taking over financing. Greek banks have high liquidity, capital adequacy, but also the know-how to finance large projects”, noted Mr. Tzouros, giving as an example the projects FlyOver, BOAK, Kasteli, etc.
Referred to Mr. Tzouros emphasized that Greek schemes claiming large projects can now face large foreign companies on equal terms.