Interior Minister

SGCC wants relaxation of bailout hiring limits at IPTO

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State Grid International Development, a member of the corporate group State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), has sent a clear message to the Greek government calling for a relaxation of recruitment terms at power grid operator IPTO, in which the Chinese company is a strategic partner with a 24 percent stake, noting current hiring restrictions, resulting from a related bailout term imposed on public utilities, increase this investment’s risk and affect its growth prospects.

The Chinese investor wants IPTO included in a draft bill relaxing recruitment terms for the power utility PPC and distribution network operator DEDDIE/HEDNO.

The request was expressed through a letter signed by State Grid International Development chief official Hu Yuhai and received by Energy Minister Costis Hatzidakis, his deputy Gerassimos Thomas, as well as Interior Minister Takis Theodorikakos, according to energypress sources.

The issue had been brought to the attention of the previous Greek government several months before its legislative election defeat in July, the Chinese investor reiterated.

“We consider the situation incomprehensible and somewhat unreasonable when a company the size of IPTO, with support from the strategic investor, is not given the opportunity to select and remunerate its staff in accordance with its rules, serving its interests,” the Chinese firm noted in its letter.

SGCC’s investment and IPTO’s growth prospects will be placed under a state of uncertainty if the Greek power grid operator is not included in the revisions planned for PPC and DEDDIE/HEDNO, the Chinese investor warned, promising fair and transparent recruitment procedures if the restrictions are lifted.

 

Hydra expected to regain control of RES-lucrative Agios Georgios islet

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A long-running dispute between the municipalities of the island Hydra and Lavrio, southeast of Athens, for the administrative jurisdiction of Agios Georgios, or San Giorgio, an uninhabited 4.3 km2 islet south of Sounio equipped with 23 wind energy turbines totaling 70 MW and installed and operated by Terna Energy, appears set to end in favor of Hydra.

Greek Interior Minister Panos Skourletis appears to have accepted a State Legal Council opinion recommending administrative jurisdiction of the islet for the municipality of Hydra, according to sources.

The Interior Ministry’s final decision on the islet’s administrative jurisdiction will determine which of the two municipalities will be entitled to receive RES-related payments worth half a million euros annually.

Historically, the islet was under Hydra’s control from 1834, when the newly founded modern Greek state’s admnistrative map was established. Control of Agios Georgios was transferred to the Lavrio municipality in 2011 by ELSTAT, the Hellenic Statistical Authority, following a census.