Visibility in the planning of projects, timely payment of debts from the State, realistic review of costs and incentives for the employment of new workers in the construction industry are the necessary interventions in the sector, in order to maintain and strengthen the positive momentum recorded in the last four years, Alexandros Michailidis, Deputy CEO and General Technical Director of TERNA, said at the Athens Investment Forum.
“The construction market has shown positive signs in the last four years. The tendered projects amounted to 7 billion euros in 2023 and the backlog of construction companies tripled to 15 billion euros. However, there are also problems and the efforts of the state and the construction sector should focus on them, in order to maintain and strengthen the positive momentum. Despite the positive course of investments lately, Greece is lagging behind other European countries, even compared to neighboring countries of the Balkans, such as Romania. Investments in construction as a percentage of GDP in Greece – which remains last in the eurozone – stand at 4.8% compared to 11.5% in Europe and 16.7% in Romania,” he said.
Regarding the economic viability of the sector, the Deputy CEO and General Technical Director of TERNA, noted that we should not overlook the significant delay in payments from the State, explaining that the percentage of timely payments in the Construction sector in Greece is one of the lowest in Europe, as only one in four payments are made on time.
However, he stressed that the biggest problem in the sector right now is the lack of human resources which in construction approaches 50,000 positions. According to estimates, the total number of construction workers should increase to approximately 250 thousand workers in the period 2024-2026.
