Mr President,

Dear participants at the conference

It is a pleasure (an honor ) to be invited by the organizers to address your Conference.

I wish to congratulate the Greek Tunnelling Society for organizing this important  event in Athens ,  now that large construction works involving tunnel construction too, are once again under way following 3 years of inactivity due to the deep recession that hit our economy.

This recently, initiated  construction activity around Greece sends out the positive message that this economy is rolling again and the New Development has started.

The restarting of the Public works took tremendous  efforts by all parties involved , since the abrupt interruption created particularly complex  problems demanding a solution. Following two years of intense work at the Secretariat of Public Works of which I am proud to lead ,  these problems have been solved and the works started.

As you well know from your work over the years,  in Public Works there are many more problems  to be solved and works to get going. We stay optimistic .

Looking at the Program ,  your 2nd Tunnelling Eastern European Conference aims to promote the sharing of knowledge, experience, skills ideas and achievement in the design, financing and contracting, as well as construction, operation and maintenance of tunnels and other underground facilities among the countries of Eastern Europe.    All extremely useful parameters.

It  sets the environment for colleagues from Eastern Europe and the rest of the world to meet and exchange knowledge obtained in the various projects they have been involved. A satisfying feeling of  human collaboration on a special topic, like Tunnelling .

Respect for environmental needs,  as well as  matters of practical solutions to joint efficiently two positions , tunneling has arisen as an excellent solution in a multitude of works. From small city pipe or cable laying tunnels to the large highway, railway or water transporting tunnels.

Naturally the development of tunneling the last few decades has gone hand in hand with the tunneling technology which progressed immensely, lowering the construction cost and increasing the speed of construction. Not to mention the accuracy and the use of technical means to handle very difficult problems , like constructing the metro lines tunnels under blocks of buildings in ever changing ground qualities. conditions

Greece in the last 20 years has emerged from the last positions in the list of European countries classified according to the total length of tunnels constructed;   aiming now , for the  third position by 2015 , following  Italy and Austria.

110 kms of single tube road tunnels have been constructed up until now , 50 more kms are under construction at this time to be completed by 2015.

In the General Secretariat of P.W. they are at the design level 15 more kms of tunnels.

To give you the perspective , we are talking about a Hellenic trans- European road network of 4.900 kms , of which constructed are 2.329 kms  , 1.880 kms have not been  realized yet and with 691 kms proposed to be designed.

The experience obtained by the engineers all these years is extremely important as they have been also involved in Metro line tunnels in Athens , and Thessaloniki, 43kms of railway tunnels and about 20 kms of hydraulic works tunnels. Exchanging information can only be useful.

The geomorphology, of Greece ,  the asymmetrical demographic distribution and the anisomeric distribution of water resources and water needs lead to tunneling solutions , as most efficient and safe.

In previous decades too expensive to realize;   but the development of the Greek economy ,  the continuous economic aid by the European Union , and the development of tunneling technology has enabled Greece to construct all these tunnels under the design and supervision of  engineers in our Ministry in the General Secretariat of Public Works.

In the tight times that we live ,  of budgetary cuts , difficult business and financial environment, more efficient and effective tools and solutions must be employed.

Amongst them are proposed the Project bonds which are being examined in Europe lately.

In the Ministry also resides the Administrative Authority of Tunnels that is the Government Service that has the  responsibility for:

a)  ensuring the observation of all aspects of safety in tunnels and

b)  taking all necessary measures required to guarantee the conformity with

     the    provisions of law.

Speakers from the Ministry will be presenting specific underground projects,

of interest  enriching  your conference presentations.

Wishing you a successful Conference and a nice stay in my country

Thank you.