Antonios Mitsialis, an AVAX executive director, said he was optimistic that work by the tunnel boring machine on the Line 4 metro tunnel would resume within a reasonable timeframe, immediately after the relevant study was approved. He was speaking at the “GreenDealGreece 2026” conference, organised by the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE) in collaboration with economix.gr.
In response to a question from journalist Kostas Kyriakopoulos, who was moderating the discussion, Mr Mitsialis said that teams of engineers were currently visiting homes in Kypseli to record the damage and begin repairs.
AVAX has also submitted a study setting out how construction of the tunnel should resume, he added, estimating that it would take one or two months to receive a response from the relevant authorities. “Once the construction method is approved, it will be a matter of a few days before work gets under way,” he said, acknowledging that all the Ministry’s actions were aimed at speeding up the process as much as possible.
He also noted that, following the damage to homes in Kypseli, there had been exaggerated claims that did not reflect reality, including reports of buildings on the verge of collapse and people’s lives being at risk.
“There was speculation and inaccurate reporting, but the point is to move forward,” he added, before praising the TEE’s contribution. The organisation had “unblocked the process by taking the lead and assessing what interventions were needed”.
Asked about the Thessaloniki Flyover, Mr Mitsialis confirmed that the aim was to deliver it next spring, ahead of the relevant deadline in the schedule. This would be possible, he said, because “many parties did their utmost to ensure that work continued without interruption”. This applied to AVAX and METKA, as well as the Ministry’s services, he noted. Equally decisive, in his view, was the cooperation of the other bodies involved in the project, as “important decisions were taken quickly”.
Speaking about the three separate hospitals of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation in Komotini, Thessaloniki and Sparta, the AVAX executive director said they combined the most advanced technology.
“When completed, they will set a global benchmark,” he said, adding that cooperation between the public sector, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and AVAX should serve as a model for future partnerships.