On Friday 9th May, in the presence of the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the contract was signed at the Cultural Conference Centre of Heraklion for the construction of the main section of the VOAK, which will run between Chania and Heraklion. The concession agreement covers the planning, construction, operation and maintenance of the longest section of the new motorway, which will have a length of 157 km, plus the adjoining road network. An add-on to the concession is the construction of the western section between Chania and Kissamos, 30 km long, for which plans have already been prepared and updated. Together with this section, the new road will comprise 43 interchanges, 23 tunnels and 89 bridges.

The Heraklion-Chania section is expected to be completed within 5 years. The agreement is for 35 years, allowing five years for construction and 30 years’ operation. The concessionaire, GEK-TERNA, describes itself as the largest construction company and the largest investor in concession projects in Greece. It has been a partner in most of the major Greek highway projects of recent years including the Egnatia Odos and the Attiki Odos, and is a 55 per cent partner in the Hersonissos-Neapoli section of the VOAK, under construction since 2023. The new airport at Heraklion-Kastelli is being 100 per cent constructed by GEK-TERNA, and the company is a 32.5% partner in the 30-year concession to run the airport once it is completed.

The Prime Minister’s speech
Addressing the gathering of ministers and government officials, contractors’ representatives and local MPs at the event, the Prime Minister described the occasion as “a great day for Crete, a great day for the government as a whole, as finally, after many difficulties, after many obstacles, we are signing the concession agreement for the section from Heraklion to Chania, with the option to go as far as Kissamos – a commitment which I had made personally and which today I am in the happy position of being able to fulfil.”

During his speech the Prime Minister also committed the government to carrying out studies for the extension of the eastern section of the highway from Pachia Ammos, south of Agios Nikolaos, to Sitia.

As regards the road-safety issues which have dogged the highway for many years, Mr Mitsotakis said: “I have spoken many times about the senseless spilling of blood which we experience in Crete, because of bad driving but also because of bad infrastructure. I have therefore asked the minister to plan road safety works in collaboration with the concessionaires, which will make the existing VOAK safer, on sections both near Heraklion and near Chania. These are works which will closely resemble the measures taken on the old Patras-Pyrgos national road, which have proved exceptionally effective in improving road safety.”

A video and the full text of the Prime Minister’s speech can be found on his official website, here: https://www.primeminister.gr/2025/05/09/36209

Statements from government officials
Among those present (and one of the signatories of the agreement) was the minister for Infrastructure Christos Dimas, who said that “the optional section from Chania westwards to Kissamos will go ahead, as will the eastern section to Pachia Ammos, where we already have matured plans, and I can tell you that the Prime Minister has given the order for financing the planning studies as far as Sitia. And that will be going forward in the immediate future.”

The deputy minister for Infrastructure Nikos Tachiaos called for everyone to leave the past behind and focus on the future. “The VOAK is changing Crete.” he said. “Crete with the new VOAK will be a different island. However, the journey to the final result will not be an easy one. It is the first time that Greece has implemented such a long stretch of motorway as an integrated project, and indeed on an island with such a high intensity of traffic on a seasonal basis.”

Chania MP and deputy minister for Immigration and Asylum Sevi Voloudaki said that “the VOAK is not something on its own, it is complemented by a whole developmental plan for the island: electrical interconnection of the island with mainland Greece, major irrigation works for water safety, the new airport at Kastelli, student accommodation in Heraklion.” … “The government of Nea Dimokratia is following through on its commitments from 2019,” she added. “We have left behind the stagnation and uncertainty of 2015. Today, Greece and Crete are moving forward with stability, responsibility and foresight.”

“In contradistinction to all the governments of the past few decades who acknowledged the need for the VOAK on a theoretical level, it took a new government to transform the proposition into reality,” said the minister for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Giannis Kefalogiannis. “The strategy, the planning and the securing of the funding model clearly carries the stamp of the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis,”

The Regional Governor
“The VOAK hastens Crete’s entry into the new era. It promotes regional development, it stimulates social cohesion, it reinforces Crete’s footprint on the global map,” said the Regional Governor for Crete Stavros Arnautakis. Addressing the government, he repeated that view that “the VOAK for the region of Crete starts at Kissamos and reaches as far as Sitia. And I believe that you will give the necessary instructions for this project to become a reality, that the funds will be found, satisfying a longstanding demand of the inhabitants of Sitia and of the whole community of Lasithi.”

GEK TERNA
On behalf of the contractor, the CEO of GEK TERNA Giorgos Peristeris observed that “even before the tender took place, and while we were preselected but not yet in the competition, an impasse had appeared over the inclusion of the Chania-Kissamos section in the overall concession. We were able to help in finding a legal solution which would allow the Chania-Kissamos option to be included in the tender which had already been announced, without the need to delay and re-tender the work.”

Alexandros Markogiannakis
Chania MP for Nea Dimokratia Alexandros Markogiannakis described the project as “an important investment in development, in road safety and in the quality of life of the inhabitants of Crete”, adding: “the government of Nea Dimokratia has put into practice a decades-old commitment.”

The opposition parties
In contrast to the panegyric atmosphere which reigned at the signing, the media statements of the opposition parties, as usual, sought to cast the development in a negative light, even when they were unable to find much basis for this.

“The Prime Minister is both late and forgetful. The inhabitants of Crete have drawn their own conclusions,” commented the media spokesperson of PASOK-Movement for Change Kostas Tsoukalas. Interviewed on Creta TV’s Update programme, PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis, who happened to be on a tour of the island at the time, acknowledged the importance of the project, but criticised the Mitsotakis government for being autocratic and not listening to the people.

The statement of the Cretan branch of KKE reflected its perennial anti-capitalist, pro-proletarian stance which it reiterates on every public occasion, and repeated its demand, echoed by many of the opposition parties, that the highway should be free of tolls from one end to the other.

“Whatever goes forward in the field of infrastructure, does so under the terms and conditions which serve the further capitalistic development of the island at the expense of the Cretan people,” the statement said, adding: “We have seen this recently with regard to [the Tempe rail disaster] and with other infrastructure development projects. We will also see it with the VOAK, a project for which the Cretan people will pay dearly at all its stages, from planning to construction to its use. The satisfaction of the modern-day needs of the people cannot go together with the satisfaction of the capitalist demand for profit.”

The leader of the right-wing opposition party Greek Solution, Kyriakos Velopoulos, sought to cast doubt on the timetable set for completion of the highway. “Let’s see how many more times the Prime Minister will inaugurate a project such as the VOAK in Crete which will save lives,” he said. “Such behaviours, inauguration after inauguration, only in plans and nowhere else, because the VOAK recalls the Bridge of Arta. All day long they started on it, and in the evening it was not finished.”

“The tolls which are included in the ‘small print’ of the agreement can’t be buried under the show Mr Mitsotakis has set up with the concessionaire in Heraklion,” said SYRIZA’s Sector Head for Finance and Development Haris Mamoulakis
(Haniotika Nea, 10/05/25)

The question of tolls
While the principle that the new VOAK should be free of tolls, at least for local residents, is a longstanding demand of the populist opposition parties, most commentators agree that under current funding models it is not viable. Reporter Sotiris Metaxas, in a discussion on CretaTV’s evening news programme, suggested that “maybe 30 or 35 years ago, under different funding methods, it might have been possible, but not now”. However, the mayor of Heraklion Alexis Kalokairinos told CretaTV at the signing that it has been agreed that the sections of the VOAK within the city of Heraklion will be toll-free, as they will also be used by urban traffic, a fact confirmed by deputy Infrastructure minister Nikos Tachiaos.

The concession agreement will go before Parliament for approval on 21st May.