At the conference on Greek public property, Minister of National Economy and Finance Kostis Hatzidakis announced that tenders would be released for the development of public property in "packages," rather than for each property individually, to expedite the process.
The minister also announced the creation of a public property register and the launch of a digital platform for the concession of occupied public property, which would function similarly to the platform currently in use for the concession of the beach and beach area.
The Minister stressed that public property has great potential to contribute to investment and development; however, it is an area where we do not have the results we would like to see, as efforts made in the past have not always been followed up.
SIX AXES
1. Privatization: According to Mr. Hatzidakis, 10 privatizations have taken place in the ten months since the most recent elections, which is an exceptional performance for the post-independence era.
These include the divestment of the EFSF from the banks (Eurobank, Alpha Bank, National Bank, and Piraeus Bank), the disposal of shares in Helleniq Energy, the concession contracts for regional ports (Igoumenitsa, Kavala, and Heraklion), the listing of El. Venizelos on the stock exchange, and the concession contract for Attiki Odos.
"These privatisations brought 7.1 billion euros to the state coffers. Most importantly, they send the message that the country is overcoming whatever Soviet temptations it had in the past and is becoming a normal European country that will base growth on attracting private investment," Hatzidakis said.
2. Superfund: The concession of small regional airports is being promoted, following the model of the successful concession of the 14 regional airports that preceded it, as well as a separate effort for Kalamata airport. At the same time, the Hellenic State Property Fund is moving forward with the redevelopment of the TIF using a public-private partnership and logistics infrastructure, such as the Gonou camp in Thessaloniki, for which the maturity study has advanced and which will go out to tender in 2024.
3. Actions of the General Secretariat for Public Property Management, including: Effective management and oversight of the capital of public benefit foundations and endowments supervised by the Ministry, which amounts to, approximately, EUR 1 billion and 120 million. A special legislative committee is already in place which is working on amendments to the Law on Common Property with a view to modernising it and introducing innovative practices.
Amendments to the law on landed property (currently under consultation) to make it more effective. "We are also awaiting the creation of a relevant digital platform by the Ministry of Digital Governance for the process of concessioning occupied properties, the operation of which will start in the summer," Hatzidakis said.
Elaboration of the Real Estate Registry, in which all public entities are obliged to register their properties. "We relaunched the whole project last October and established scheduled monthly conferences with representatives of all entities. This makes the process go smoother and faster."
4. The most recent law on "Development of Public Property in Coastal Areas" with electronic auctions, which centrally manages from this year onwards rather than by the municipalities. And with the possibility for citizens to access the coordinates through a special application and make complaints when they find arbitrary occupations and violations of contracts, as well as with the possibility of inspection by drones,.
"We are interested not only in the state collecting the rentals but also in upgrading the tourism product. That is why we have provided for mandatory lifeguards and disabled access infrastructure on the beaches with concessions, while we have established inaccessible beaches in areas of outstanding natural beauty that will be off-trade and no umbrella stands will be allowed," he said.
5. State Property Corporation (PSC): the PSC is behind schedule and needs to move forward very quickly, the minister said, adding: "Tenders are proceeding in collaboration with the State Treasury to map 36,000 properties in the EBRD portfolio.
Based on this tender, it is expected that 6,000 properties will be valued, and in the end, 1,000 of them will be put into the immediate plan for maturity and development. There will not be 1,000 different tenders. There will be different 'packages' with possibly different companies for each of them in order to move the process along more quickly.
Hatzidakis also said that after the tender for the Tae-Kvo-Do property in Faliro was declared ineffective, the EBRD in cooperation with TAIPED, will proceed with joint market research to launch a new tender.
6. Exploitation of public property for the implementation of housing policy. "One action that has matured is that of the PSRP for social housing to move from the model of workers' housing, which contributed at critical times for the country, to another policy.
With public-private partnerships, as is done in the UK, Austria, and Spain, combining housing with other uses so that the private sector can make ends meet and there is high-quality social housing," the minister pointed out.
"We will continue on the difficult road without having any illusions about the degree of difficulties and the reactions that will be encountered," Hatzidakis stressed and concluded: "We do it with the conviction that we are doing the right thing. We have no magic recipes; we see what is done in other advanced European countries and we are following a common-sense path."
