"No more fairy tales, inaugurations to backdrops and to virtual reality with Thessaloniki metro" said Infrastructure and Transport Costas Karamanlis in an interview with Athens-Macedonian News Agency on Sunday. "The citizens of Thessaloniki want both metro and antiquities. We selected this option because it was the only one that smoothly combines the metro and the antiquities. All the views are respected but the most experienced archaeologists agree with our approach" he said on the issue of the removal or not of the antiquities from Venizelos metro station in Thessaloniki.
In his interview, he clarified that the extensions of Thessaloniki metro will proceed and referred to all the major projects prepared in the country and to his plans for the public transport and for the railways.
"Athens metro has a main role and the construction of line 4 as well as the completion of the extension to Piraeus.
He also said that there are many projects that New Democracy had announced before the elections and now are going to implement as the extensions of Attiki Odos, the underwater link Perama-Salamina, the completion of the tram line to Piraeus, the cargo centre at Thriassio and others.
On Patra-Pyrgos motorway he announced that he will go to Brussels next week to discuss the issue with the European Commission.
Karamanlis explained how he sees the participation of the private sector in the production of public works "I believe in innovation and to the adoption of good international practices in the Greek reality".
On the railway he said that it has a central position in ND's programme but with realistic and functional works.
The minister described the finances of public transport companies as tragic but clarified that there is no issue of privatisation. "In any case the tragic condition we inherited from the previous government could not attract the investors' interest" Karamanlis said.
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