The donation contract for the second phase of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport renovation programme for school buildings “Marietta Giannakou” was signed today at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.
The second phase of the programme involves renovation work in 238 schools and school complexes located in 132 municipalities in Greece. The projects will be implemented by “Building Infrastructures S.A.” (The funding will come from a €100 million donation from the four systemic banks: Alpha Bank, Eurobank, National Bank and Piraeus Bank. The funding will come from a €100 million donation from the four systemic banks.
The schools, by region, that are included in the second phase of the Marietta Giannakou Programme are:
– Eastern Macedonia and Thrace 10
– Attica 106
– North Aegean 5
– Western Greece 15
– Western Macedonia 4
– Epirus 5
– Thessaly 15
– Ionian Islands. Islands 5
– Central Macedonia 27
– Crete 14
– South Aegean 6
– Peloponnese 19
– Central Greece 7
In all schoolsmajor work will be carried out, depending on the needs:
– painting of external and internal masonry.
– construction/repair/renovation of WCs (including disabled WCs).
– construction/repair of ramps for people with disabilities.
– construction/repair/improvement of basketball/volleyball courts or playgrounds in the Kindergartens.
– roof insulation or repair of tiled roofs.
The contract was signed by the Ministers of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Dimas, National Economy and Finance Kyriakos Pierrakakis, Interior Todoris Livanios, Education, Religious Affairs and Sport Sofia Zacharaki, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Union of Banks (EETT) Georgios Zanias, the CEO of Alpha Bank Vassilios Psaltis, the CEO of Eurobank Fokion Karavias, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of National Bank Gikas Hardouvelis, the CEO of Piraeus Christos Megalou, the Acting Director General of EETT Charoula Apalagaki and the CEO of KTYP S.A.E. Athanasios Yannaris.
At the signing of the contract, also present were the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Nikos Tachias, the Deputy Minister of National Economy and Finance Giorgos Kotsiras, the Secretary General of Infrastructure Dmitris Anagnopoulos and the President of KTYP S.A. Timoleon Katsipos.
On the occasion of the signing of the project contract, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Dimas said: “Following the successful implementation of Phase 1 of the Marietta Giannakou School Building Renovation Programme, we are today moving on to Phase 2 of a project with a strong social footprint, which substantially improves the daily lives of thousands of students and teachers.
This is a project worth a total of €100 million. The project is a €100 million project, which once again comes from a donation by the four systemic banks (Alpha Bank, Eurobank, National Bank and Piraeus) through the Hellenic Banking Association (HBA).
The amount of the donation includes the preparation of studies for at least 450 school units, which will concern the third phase of the implementation of the Programme.
We plan to include schools from other municipalities in the country, as well as special schools.
Work on the Marietta Giannakou Programme will take place this summer so that the facilities will be fully operational by the start of the school year.
I would like to thank all the ministers concerned for their constructive and productive cooperation, and of course the Hellenic Bankers Association for this important contribution.
Without this donation, these projects would not have been possible.
This contract is another concrete example that public-private partnership can produce measurable and substantial results with a strong social footprint.
We continue to invest in public education infrastructure with a plan and consistency, because every child, in every city, village and neighborhood of the country, deserves a better school environment and better prospects for their future.”
The Minister of National Economy and Finance Kyriakos Pierrakakis said: “I am pleased to see that the seeds we planted are now blossoming. With them, a new confidence for the country is blossoming.
I will start by saying a big thank you to the Greek banks. It is a very important programme, the Marietta Giannakou programme, which we can see is being embraced by students and parents in our country as a whole. It is making a difference.
We have thousands of schools and we also have a dualism in how we have to deal with education in general, because on the one hand we hear the architect of PISA, Andreas Schleicher, that Greece is one of the countries that is playing a leading role in the digitization of education – yes, Estonia has taken the lead, but Greece is the fastest to accelerate and the fastest to change – but, you can’t move into the AI era if the ceiling is leaking or the plaster is falling.
This simple observation led us as a government and the Prime Minister to take this decision to launch a programme with the participation of the state budget, but in which the funding of Greek banks plays a huge role. And this programme is really extremely important and I would say that we must be even more ambitious, we must see it spread practically to all the schools in the territory in the coming years, because this is exactly what every Greek is asking for.
The priorities of the Ministry of Finance are exactly that, to fund, to act as a catalyst for all those changes that will make a difference on the ground. And I think that every citizen will be able to see that in practice.”
The Minister of Interior, Thodoris Livanios stressed: “Supporting public education is one of the first priorities for the Ministry of Interior as well. In this context, the contribution of the Hellenic Bankers Association in the implementation of the second phase of the “Marietta Giannakou” programme is of particular importance. The upgrading of school infrastructure in every corner of the country, from the most remote areas to large urban centres, contributes in an essential way to the creation of better and safer conditions for students, teachers and the entire school community”.
The Minister of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports Sofia Zacharaki stressed: “Almost a year after the launch of the Marietta Giannakou programme, we can talk about a substantial change in public schools. Already 431 school units in 245 municipalities and 13 regions of the country have been renovated and delivered to students and teachers, with a special focus on special schools, in border and island areas and in areas affected by natural disasters.
Today we are moving on to the second phase of the programme, with a new intervention of €100 million for the upgrading of 238 more schools and school complexes. These are interventions that do not only concern the aesthetic image of the schools, but the substantial improvement of the daily life of children and teachers: safer spaces, better accessibility, renovated classrooms, courtyards and infrastructure that meet the modern needs of education.
With a total planning that now reaches 650 million euros for about 2,500 school units across the country, we are systematically investing in a public school that is safer, more functional and more humane. A school worthy of our children and the expectations of Greek society.”
The Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Nikos Tachias said: “The Marietta Giannakou programme is a programme which in its first phase was fully justified. A programme whose main initiator and accelerator was the Prime Minister himself, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and which is being repeated this year thanks to the generous sponsorship of the four systemic banks, through the Hellenic Union of Banks.
Very soon, a large number of schools across the country will be added to those that have already been transformed. The interventions in the areas in which free education is offered to our children meet not only the requirements of their purposes, i.e. the functional needs of the educational process, but also the expectations of the people of the 21st century for a modern and qualitative school environment.
On this very axis we are working in the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport with the vehicle of KTYP, the management of which I would like to thank and congratulate for the commitment, consistency and efficiency with which they have been working.
The Deputy Minister of National Economy and Finance George Kotsiras said: “Today confirms that the Marietta Giannakou programme continues to be dynamic, improving the daily lives of students and teachers in the school environment. This is an initiative that reflects the will of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and is being implemented by the relevant ministries with the significant assistance of the Hellenic Bankers’ Association, bearing special symbolism for today and for the future of our country. The Ministry of National Economy and Finance is here to support any such initiative, both at institutional and financial level”.
The Secretary General of Infrastructure Dimitris Anagnopoulos said: “The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport is planning and implementing many major projects across the country. But at the same time, it is also carrying out a very large number of interventions in building projects. Especially in the education sector, the upgrading of school units substantially and directly improves the level of education, the conditions under which teachers work and, of course, the everyday life of students. It is also worth noting that, at a technical level, we may not have the range of interventions that exists in other categories of projects, but, in any case, the number of schools included in these programmes also implies a very large activity for the technical world.”
