More than 400 projects, worth €3.5 billion, have been put out to tender by the Strategic Contracts Unit of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (Project Preparation Facility - PPF), headed by Panagiotis Stamboulidis, Executive Advisor to the Fund.
It is recalled that the PPF was established in 2021, as a distinct functional branch of activity of the Hellenic Investment Fund, in view of the country's preparation for the absorption of the Recovery and Resilience Fund resources. The purpose of the Unit is the maturation of Strategic Contracts included in the "Strategic Contracts Development Programme" and the conduct of relevant tendering procedures and the monitoring of the execution of the projects awarded under them.
In addition, and independently of the Recovery Fund actions, the PPF is able to assist any public and wider public sector entity in the preparation and implementation of its projects, which may be financed by national, EU or international funding programmes (RRF, NSRF, etc.) if they are included in the Programme, acting as a project manager and accelerator.
NATURAL ENVIROMENT
Last Wednesday, under the National Reforestation Plan, five critical contracts worth €52 million were signed for the restoration of forests in Attica, Central Macedonia and Northern Evia (https://www.capital.gr/oikonomia/3812697/taiped-upegrafisan-pente-sumbaseis-upsous-52-ekat-gia-tin-ulopoiisi-tou-ethnikou-sxediou-anadasosis/ ). It is noted that the National Reforestation Plan concerns the restoration of degraded forest ecosystems, using native species, in areas of Attica, Central Macedonia and Northern Evia, including artificial reforestation works in selected areas of the region.
The project is implemented under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan "Greece 2.0", with funding from the European Union (NextGenerationEU). The Hellenic Investment Fund is the Implementing Authority and acts on behalf of and in the name of the Ministry of Environment and Energy. The Strategic Contracts Unit of the HRADF matured and tendered the projects implemented in the National Reforestation Plan. With such moves, PPF shows that it can not only act as a catalyst for economic development, but also decisively assist in the implementation of projects with a direct impact on quality of life.
The "AntiNERO" programme, launched on the initiative of Panagiotis Amyras, Theodoros Skylakakis, and Akis Skertsos, is also an example of important PPF action. The implementation of the project was entrusted to the PPF and the person they trusted to "run" it was Panagiotis Stamboulidis, the Fund's appointed advisor and head of the Unit.
Following the success of the major AntiNERO I & II actions involving the clearing of thousands of acres of forests, maintenance of forest roads and firebreaks, and utilizing resources from the Recovery and Resilience Fund, the state entrusted the Strategic Contracts Unit of the Fund with the implementation of AntiNERO III, which is the largest prevention and protection of the natural environment project ever undertaken in the country. The project has a budget of 310 million euros for the period 2024–2025 and provides for interventions on hundreds of thousands of acres. In particular, the Strategic Contracts Unit, in collaboration with the General Directorate of Forests and Forest Environment of the Ministry of Environment and Energy, and tenders for projects that have matured, both on the mainland and in island areas throughout the Territory, concerning the cleaning of forest ecosystems throughout the country, maintenance and improvement of forest road networks, maintenance of existing firebreaks and opening of new mixed firebreaks near settlements and on both sides of forest roads.
