Major opposition New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis said if elected this year he would immediately accelerate plans for an $8 billion redevelopment of the abandoned Hellenikon International airport on Athens’ coast.
The project has been delayed for 12 years although it’s been seen as a key component for a massive tourism and revenue boost at the same time hard-core elements in the ruling Radical Left SYRIZA who don’t want any foreign businesses are trying to stop it.
The $566 million Stavros Niarchos Foundation that is between Hellenikon to to east and the port of Piraeus to the west, where the government is also blocking a $580 million overhaul by the Chinese company COSCO which operates it has proved to be one of the country’s biggest cultural lures, drawing 5.3 million people – half the population – in 2018.
The three spots were aimed to create a so-called Athens Riviera on the coast that goes past some of the capital’s most affluent areas on the sea although access to public beaches is blocked by unlawful private clubs charging residents to get in.
The pro-business, pro-investment Mitsotakis, noting that foreign businesses are essential to pushing recovery from a near nine-year-old economic crisis, said that the empty weed-covered tarmacs and rusting airplanes at Hellenikon are “symbol of SYRIZA’s failure in development,” and in attracting companies.
“There should be tens of thousands of our countrymen working on this site today so that the old airport could be an emblematic development project symbolizing the new Greece that lies ahead. Instead, we are faced with a scene of forlorn abandonment,” said Mitsotakis, shown around by the Mayor of Elliniko and Argyroupoli, Yiannis Constantatos.
“SYRIZA never thought of Elliniko as a top development projects. This is why it continues to this day to erect hurdles to the completion of this investment,” Mitsotakis added, saying that if he is elected to government, he will make the a top priority, said the business newspaper Naftemporiki.
The project from a consorium led by Greece’s Lambda, China’s Fosun and an Abu Dhabi company would include a major casino, include residential areas, luxury hotels, retail areas, multiple food and beverage facilities, museums and cultural venues, family entertainment facilities, sports and recreation spaces and some green space although initial plans were to create Europe’s biggest urban park before an economic crisis created a need for money.
The construction stage is expected to create more than 10,000 jobs, while the full resort is projected to employ more than 75,000 people and bring millions of visitors annually.
Mitsotakis’ call came after the project’s prospects were hailed at the annual Delphi Economic Forum earlier in March. Mario Kontomerkos, the CEO of Connecticut-based Mohegan Gaming Entertainment joined with Stelios Koutsivitis, the CEO of privatized Astir Palace and Astir Marina resort in Vouliagmeni, as well as former National Tourism Organization (GNTO) General Secretary Dimitris Tryfonopoulos spoke to Naftemporiki Executive Editor Christos Dogas over the unprecedented impact on the tourism and real estate sector that could create even more development spin-offs in the area.
that further development of the upscale coastal stretch entails.
For instance, construction and operation of Europe’s first integrated casino resort (IRC) at the Helleniko concession has raised expectations of attracting up to 10 million visitors a year, they noted, and is a critical hub for the project.
Kontomerkos said implementation of the massive investment would place the Greek capital at the “center of the world” and stand as one of the biggest attractions, his company’s Connecticut casino having showed a giant draw.
He pointed to examples in Singapore as a model for integrated gaming resorts, such as the Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa, which boosted tourist arrivals to the SE Asia island state by 40 percent.
BIG GAME
“With Athens’ position, its excellent infrastructure, next to the sea and 20 minutes away from the airport, we have the opportunity to promote this destination to our 30 million customers,” he stressed, although a Hong Kong billionaire is building one of Europe’s biggest casinos on Cyrus and has several temporary casinos working already.
There’s an April 22 deadline for casino companies to submit their bids for a business that would take up about 4 percent of the space. Koutsivitis said his company aims to re-establish what was Greece’s foremost resort as a premier international luxury destination, with Greece enjoying record runs of tourism the past few years.
The Vouliagmeni resort includes most of a jutting promontory in southeast coastal Athens and the master plan includes the opening of a Four Seasons hotel, international brand-name restaurants, an upgraded marina and a new residential zone with 13 luxury holiday villas.
“Our investment exceeds 650 million euros ($738.1 billion), and is being successfully implemented step-by-step,” he said, adding that benefits would be to attract more investors despite Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras having raised the corporate rate to 29 percent.
“Complex investments need simplified licensing and town planning procedures; significant steps have been taken, compared to the past, but we must proceed with even faster steps. Certainly, the element of (high) tax rates is an issue, and a more favorable tax regime could possibly lure investors,” he said.
Trifonopoulos said there’s a need for national tourism plan he said could raise the number of visitors from a 2018 record of 33 million to as many as 50 milllion – five times the population – by 2030. Tourism now brings in more than 20 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or about 36 billion euros ($40.87 billion.)
“I am concerned, however, over whether infrastructure can keep up. A national dialogue is necessary to hatch out a national plan. There are regions (in Greece) that don’t even have sidewalks. We must choose which tourism product we want (for the country), then create and develop infrastructure,” he said.
