The TAP (Trans Adriatic Pipeline) consortium appears to have settled for a former military base on the northwestern outskirts of Thessaloniki, in the Menemeni area, to develop its logistics center, from where pipelines will be distributed to construct the infrastructure project’s Greek segment.
Report informs referring to the Greece media, the location, formerly known as the Gonos military base, is directly connected by a railway line to Thessaloniki port.
The logistics center will be developed over a 10-hectare section of the former military base’s total expanse, measuring 60 hectares and owned by GAIAOSE, a state-run company managing railway-linked property that is also active in renewable energy source (RES) production.
The property’s other 50 hectares are expected to be developed as a trading facility for prospective use by Thessaloniki port.
Another military base in the wider area, the Kakiousis unit, was also considered for TAP’s logistics center, but the site in Menemeni was favored because of its railway connection to Thessaloniki port.
In the past, the former Menemeni military base was used to store military equipment, including ammunition, which will need to be cleared out before the property is handed over to the TAP consortium.
As a first stage, twenty hectares of the property will be cleared of all military equipment, ten hectares of which are planned to be used by TAP. The entire property is expected to be cleared away within 2016.
The TAP pipeline is planned to carry Azeri natural gas to central Europe via Greece’s north, Turkey, Albania and Italy, following an Adriatic Sea crossing.
