THESSALONIKI – Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ vow that the long-delayed Thessaloniki Metro – 18 years in the making – would open on Nov. 30 could be in jeopardy because officials didn’t begin procedures fast enough to ensure there would be tickets.

In August, Mitsotakis, speaking in Greece’s second-largest city, said “After many inaugurations that were not actually inaugurations, after tarpaulins, presentations and disputes, I am pleased to announce that the Thessaloniki Metro will be delivered – not inaugurated, but delivered,” he said.

The 2.26 billion euro ($2.5 billion) project was built by a Greek-Italian consortium overseen by Elliniko Metro,  the state-owned company which oversaw construction of the Athens Metro and tram. It will be operated by the Thema Franco-Italian consortium.

But it could be delayed yet again over the ticket debacle unless it goes ahead without tickets, Kathimerini reporting that officials scrambled to change a 2021 contract to procure bus tickets and smart passes.

That would be for an initial batch of 2.7 million paper tickets and 100,000 plastic cards but the report said the Court of Audit ruled a new contract must go through a bidding process and would not allow a change.

The Thessaloniki Transport Authority, responsible for all public transport in the city, along with Information Society, the public company managing the tender, have appealed the Court of Audit’s decision but even if a change is approved it likely wouldn’t be in time for the promised opening.

Work on the Kalamaria extension didn’t begin until 2013 and that won’t open until 2025, it was said. There will be 18 stations and 14.4 kilometers (8.9 miles) of tunnels. Construction was set back by archaeological discoveries and Greece’s 2010-18 economic and austerity crisis.

“Thessaloniki is changing. It is changing at a very fast pace. No government has implemented more projects for Thessaloniki than this government. And this is something that, I believe, the citizens of Thessaloniki are beginning to realize,”Mitsotakis said then.

“I completely understand the suspicion and hesitancy towards commitments, which the citizens of Thessaloniki have heard many times, but the reality has always been different … we have escaped from the practices of the past, we have proven that what we say we can implement within specific timetables,” he said.

In October, 2023 Mitsotakis, at a contract signing ceremony, said the metro would open by the end of 2024, which is a year later than the last deadline announced but this time he said it will happen.

“We made a bold decision to use private expertise, the best at a European level, in order to ensure the project’s smooth and safe operation,” Mitsotakis said at the signing, although the total cost of the project isn’t known yet.

The system was supposed to open in 2012. Mitsotakis said the 250-million euro ($276.87 million) contract signing was especially important because “recent events have brought back to mind the sins of the past, when we did not know who was responsible for maintaining important infrastructure paid for by Greek taxpayers.”