Qatar rejoins bid for Hellinikon tender
Former airport site is one of the most sought after in Greece’s privatisation drive
The former airport is one of Greece’s most sought after development sites.
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Qatar has rejoined a public competition to develop the former Athens airport, a Greek government spokesperson said on Wednesday.
One of the most sought after sites of Greece’s privatisation drive, the Hellinikon project is eight kilometres south of Athens and has an adjacent 337 berth marina built for the 2004 Olympic Games. The entire site spans nearly 620 hectares and includes a waterfront of about 3.5km.
“(The emirate) has signed the confidentiality agreement and is returning to the Hellinikon tender,” Simos Kedikoglou, a government spokesman, told Vima Radio. “This is important news,” he added.
Qatari Diar, a subsidiary of the Qatar Investment Authority, had pulled out of the tender in January, prior to a visit to Doha by the Greek Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras. Greek media reports suggested that Qatar would only discuss a direct assignment of the contract.
The three other bidders for the project include Elbin Cochin from Israel, London and Regional Properties from the UK and Lamda Development SA of Greece.
Hellinikon, a disused Olympic park, is considered to be one of the most attractive property assets in the debt-ridden nation. It was originally put up for sale in December 2011, a Zawya Dow Jones report said.
The Greek privatisation agency has said that the final submission of technical offers is expected to take place in July 2013.
The government of Greece had originally pledged to raise $66.2bn through the sale or lease of state assets by 2015, a commitment made to the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in return for debt bailout funds, the report added.
However, the government scaled this down to $25.15bn before reducing it even further in October 2012, when it said it would only be able to raise $12.57bn by 2016.
Kedikoglu added that this year’s targeted privatisation revenue of $3.4bn would be exceeded. Qatar has announced it will invest more than $1bn dollars in a joint fund with Athens to bolster its weak economy.
