Christos Spirtzis

Transport and Infrastructure Minister Christos Spirtzis has announced that the first test runs for the Thessaloniki metro will begin in 2019 and that the project will be completed by 2020.

Speaking at the Thessaloniki International Fair over the weekend, Spirtzis also said that new tenders will be launched for the metro's extension to the west of the city and to the airport.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras pledged on Monday to ensure that those who suffered losses due to the wildfire that broke out on the island of Thasos on Saturday and continued to burn on Monday would be recompensed without delay.

Giorgos Stasinos, the head of the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE), the organization that awards licenses to engineers and advises the Greek state on engineering problems, on Monday hinted that the chamber might strike Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who is qualified as an engineer, from its list of members.

The Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE) warns the MPs who are members of the chamber and are going to vote for the social security bill that they will face penalties.

Among the members of TEE are Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and other MPs of SYRIZA, such as Alekos Flabouraris and Christos Spirtzis.

The new airport on the Greek island of Paros will be fully operational from July 16, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Christos Spirtzis announced on Wednesday during a visit.

The airport will be delivered for use on May 15, with a 2-kilometer runway and a 750-square meter terminal building.

Olympic Air has undertaken to cover half of the new terminal building's budget.

Construction works at the tunnels of Thessaloniki’s unfinished metro resumed on March 28 after four years of inaction due to legal and financial problems, the Infrastructure ministry announced.

Infrastructure Minister Christos Spirtzis inaugurated the operation of the first Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) named “Hercules” at the main section of the tunnels.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accompanied by nine ministers will visit Israel on Wednesday to participate in a broad bilateral meeting between Greece and Israel aiming at the promotion of the two countries’ cooperation.

Transport Minister Christos Spirtzis told Praktorio 104.9 FM that works for the Thessaloniki metro that had been interrupted will resume in the first ten days of 2016.

“We estimate that the works will resume in the first ten days of January, 2016,” he said.

The leftist Greek government appears startled by developments at the border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) where the construction of a fence has caused an overwhelming number of refugees and economic immigrants to gather.

Transport Minister Christos Spirtzis legislated free transport for unemployed people and to give amnesty for public transport fines incurred from July 2, 2010, through to July 2, 2015, provided they can prove that they were unemployed at the time the fine was incurred.