Ex post evaluation of major projects supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Cohesion Fund between 2000 and 2013 Rio-Antirio Bridge Greece EUROPEAN COMMISSION Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy Directorate Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy Unit Evaluation and European Semester Contact: Jan Marek Ziółkowski E-mail: [email protected] European Commission B-1049 Brussels EUROPEAN COMMISSION Ex post evaluation of major projects supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Cohesion Fund between 2000 and 2013 Rio-Antirio Bridge Greece Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy 2020 EN Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union. Freephone number (*): 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (*) The information given is free, as are most calls (though some operators, phone boxes or hotels may charge you). Manuscript completed in 2018 The European Commission is not liable for any consequence stemming from the reuse of this publication. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2020 ISBN 978-92-76-17416-5 doi: 10.2776/444229 © European Union, 2020 Reuse is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. The reuse policy of European Commission documents is regulated by Decision 2011/833/EU (OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39). Ex post evaluation of major projects supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Cohesion Fund between 2000 and 2013 This report is part of a study carried out by a Team selected by the Evaluation Unit, DG Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission, through a call for tenders by open procedure No 2016CE16BAT077. The consortium selected comprises CSIL – Centre for Industrial Studies (lead partner, Italy), Ramboll Management Consulting A/S (Denmark), Significance BV (The Netherlands), TPLAN Consulting (Italy). The Core Team comprises: • Scientific Director: Massimo Florio (CSIL and University of Milan); • Project Manager: Silvia Vignetti (CSIL); • Scientific Committee: Ginés de Rus, John Nellthorp, Emile Quinet; • Task managers: Silvia Vignetti (CSIL), Gerard de Yong (Significance), Roberto Zani (Tplan), Emanuela Sirtori (CSIL), Xavier Le Den (Ramboll), Julie Pellegrin (CSIL); • Thematic Experts: Gianni Carbonaro (CSIL), Enrico Bernardis (Tplan), Mario Genco (CSIL), Eric Kroes (Significance), Kim Ruijs (Significance), Barry Zondag (Significance). A network of National Correspondents provides the geographical coverage for the field analysis. The authors of this report are Nick A. Theophilopoulos, Konstantinos Dinis, Roberto Zani and Enrico Maria Bernardis. The authors are also grateful to Prof. Athanasios P. Bellas for his valuable inputs and to all the project managers, stakeholders and beneficiaries who provided data, information and opinions during the field work. The authors are grateful for the very helpful insights from the EC staff and particularly to Mariana Hristcheva, Daria Gismondi, Jan-Marek Ziółkowski, Jerome Glantenay, and other members of the Steering Group. They also express their gratitude to all stakeholders who agreed to respond to the team’s questions and contributed to the realisation of the case study. The authors are responsible for any remaining errors or omissions. Quotation is authorised as long as the source is acknowledged. Cover picture source: Gefyra, SA (author: Ministry of Public Works). 2 Ex post evaluation of major projects supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Cohesion Fund between 2000 and 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................... 6 OVERALL APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY .................................................................... 6 MAIN PROJECT FEATURES ...................................................................................... 7 PROJECT PERFORMANCE ........................................................................................ 8 MECHANISMS AND DETERMINANTS .......................................................................... 11 CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................. 12 1. PROJECT DESCRIPTION .......................................................................... 14 1.1. CONTEXT ............................................................................................... 15 1.2. PROJECT OBJECTIVES................................................................................. 26 1.3. STRUCTURAL FEATURES .............................................................................. 26 2. ORIGIN AND HISTORY ............................................................................ 29 2.1. BACKGROUND ......................................................................................... 29 2.2. FINANCING DECISION AND PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION ........................................... 34 2.3. CURRENT PERFORMANCE AND OTHER INVESTMENT NEEDS ....................................... 36 3. DESCRIPTION OF LONG-TERM EFFECTS .................................................. 39 3.1. KEY FINDINGS ......................................................................................... 39 3.2. EFFECTS RELATED TO THE ECONOMIC GROWTH ................................................... 41 3.3. EFFECTS ON QUALITY OF LIFE AND WELL-BEING .................................................. 46 3.4. EFFECTS ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY .............................................. 47 3.5. EFFECTS RELATED TO DISTRIBUTIONAL ISSUES ................................................... 49 3.6. TIME-SCALE AND NATURE OF THE EFFECTS ........................................................ 49 4. MECHANISMS AND DETERMINANTS OF THE OBSERVED PERFORMANCE . 51 4.1. RELATION WITH THE CONTEXT ...................................................................... 51 4.2. SELECTION PROCESS ................................................................................. 52 4.3. PROJECT DESIGN ..................................................................................... 54 4.4. FORECASTING CAPACITY ............................................................................. 55 4.5. PROJECT GOVERNANCE ............................................................................... 56 4.6. MANAGERIAL CAPACITY .............................................................................. 59 4.7. PROJECT BEHAVIORAL PATTERN ..................................................................... 60 5. FINAL ASSESSMENT ............................................................................... 63 5.1. PROJECT RELEVANCE AND COHERENCE ............................................................. 63 5.2. PROJECT EFFECTIVENESS ............................................................................ 64 5.3. PROJECT EFFICIENCY ................................................................................. 65 5.4. EU ADDED VALUE ..................................................................................... 65 5.5. FINAL ASSESSMENT .................................................................................. 66 6. CONCLUSIONS AND LESSONS LEARNED ................................................. 70 ANNEX I. METHODOLOGY OF EVALUATION ................................................... 72 ANNEX II. EX-POST COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS REPORT ................................ 82 ANNEX III. LIST OF INTERVIEWEES ........................................................... 102 REFERENCES ............................................................................................... 104 3 Ex post evaluation of major projects supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Cohesion Fund between 2000 and 2013 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AIA Athens International Airport ARR Athens Ring Road B/C Benefit/Cost ratio CBA Cost/Benefit Analysis CC Concession Contract CFO Chief Financial Officer CJV Construction Joint Venture CPI Consumer Price Index CSF Community Support Framework DG REGIO Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy EC European Commission ECU European Currency Unit EIA Environmental Impact Assessment EIB European Investment Bank EIF European Investment Fund EMU Economic and Monetary Union ENPV Economic Net Present Value ERDF European Regional Development Fund ERR Economic Rate of Return ESIF European Structural and Investment Funds EU European Union EUR Euro FNPV/C Financial Net Present Value of the investment FNPV/K Financial Net Present Value of national capital FS Feasibility Study GDP Gross Domestic Product GHG Greenhouse Gas GRD Greek Drachma I/C Interchange IRR Internal Rate of Return MEP Member of Parliament MEPPW Ministry of Environment, Planning and Public Works NPV Net Present Value NUTS2 Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics O&M Operating & Maintenance PATHE Patras-Athens-Thessaloniki-Evzoni PPP Public Private Partnership ROE Return on Equity 4 Ex post evaluation of major projects supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Cohesion Fund between 2000 and 2013 SAC Supreme Administrative Court TEN-T Trans-European transport networks ToRs Terms of References VAT Value Added Tax VOC Vehicle Operating Cost VOT Value of Time 5 Ex post evaluation of major projects supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Cohesion Fund between 2000 and 2013 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This case study illustrates the story of the Rio-Antirio bridge (further called bridge or major project), a major