The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport highlights the role of technology and Artificial Intelligence in holistic design of resilient infrastructure against climate change.
In a phase of radical redesign of public works with a focus on prevention and technological upgrading, the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Dimas highlighted the new strategy being pursued to strengthen the resilience of infrastructure against the increasingly frequent impacts of the climate crisis. As he pointed out, modern planning is no longer limited to construction, but extends to total project management and maintenance, with the use of digital tools and artificial intelligence applications that enhance accuracy, risk prediction and the effectiveness of interventions in critical infrastructure of the country.
The resilience of infrastructure is a key factor in addressing the impacts of the climate crisis, said Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Dimas, while participating in the “NatCat Summit”, the Money Review’s “Sharing the Risk: The Role of the Public and Private Sectors in Natural Disasters“.
Project design
The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport said that today, project design takes more account of management and maintenance parameters, utilising the capabilities of technology and even artificial intelligence now.
“When you create a new infrastructure, a holistic approach is required, which involves all the interventions needed to make it functional, sustainable and durable for society and for the infrastructure itself,” Dimas said, citing as a typical example the flood protection projects on the Patras-Pyrgos motorway.
In response to a question on the impact of the “Daniel” and “Elias” storms, the minister spoke of the huge damage to the infrastructure of Thessaly and Central Greece, noting that the programme for the restoration of road and railway infrastructure exceeds 1.3 billion euros, of which almost 500 million euros come from the Recovery and Resilience Fund.
He spoke of an extremely demanding process, as in cooperation with the local government, interventions in 1,007 points on the road network were recorded and agreed upon.
New infrastructure
“The new infrastructure being built will be more resilient to respond to similar extreme weather events in the future,” Dimas added.
Asked about the involvement of the private sector in the response to natural disasters, Dimas commented that the extreme weather events of recent years demonstrate that any state alone cannot fully cover, through compensation, the consequences of a very large disaster and greater involvement of the private sector is required.
In this regard, he recalled that the State has already introduced a significant tax incentive, through the reduction of the ENFIA, for citizens who privately insure their property, expressing the will in the coming years to expand these initiatives, in order to strengthen prevention and insurance awareness.
