Western Macedonia: contract for asphalt works

The Regional Governor of Western Macedonia, Giorgos Amanatidis, signed on Tuesday 18 August, in the presence of Deputy Regional Governor Lazaros Gkerechte, the contract for the project «Immediate Asphalt Works on the National Road Network of the Region of Western Macedonia 2026-2027». The project budget comes to 434,845.21 euros and its duration is set at twenty-four months from the date of signature, meaning it covers two full winter periods. The subject of the contract is the repair of damage to the road surface on sections of the National Road Network that fall under the Region’s responsibility. The funding comes from the Development Programme of the Region of Western Macedonia 2021-2025 and specifically from the Road Safety Axis.

Describing the works as immediate refers to a specific type of maintenance contract. These are framework contracts that do not set out all the points of intervention in advance, but allow the technical service to order repairs wherever damage is identified, without a new tender procedure being needed for each section. This form is used for potholes, subsidence, joint damage and localised repairs that arise mainly after the winter, when frost and water undermine the asphalt surface. Placing the project under the road safety axis rather than an infrastructure axis reflects exactly that logic: maintenance is treated as an accident prevention measure and not as a construction project.

For Western Macedonia, the condition of the road network carries particular weight. This is the region with the highest-altitude inhabited areas in the country and with prolonged periods of frost and snowfall, which accelerate wear on the road surface. The network connects scattered mountain settlements with the urban centres of Kozani, Ptolemaida, Florina, Grevena and Kastoria, and is the only access route to health and education services for many communities. At the same time, the area is going through a transition period following the phasing out of lignite, in which the quality of infrastructure is directly linked to its ability to attract new activity.

With the signing of the contract the twenty-four-month deadline begins, within which the contractor is required to carry out the service’s orders. No list of the road sections that will be tackled first has been announced, nor any timetable by prefecture, details that in contracts of this type emerge gradually from the records kept by the technical services. The size of the budget places the project in the category of routine maintenance rather than the full reconstruction of routes, which requires many times the resources. The ΠΠΑ, from which the funding is drawn, is the national arm of development planning and funds projects that do not fall under the co-financed European programmes. More in the Traffic section and in the Economy section.