The city of Heraklion hosted Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for what the organizers called a significant step forward—if one happens to measure progress in inked signatures and photo opportunities. The VOAK contract signing ceremony kicked off, focusing on the Heraklion–Chania stretch of the Northern Road Axis of Crete. The spectacle delivered all expected formalities, with the Prime Minister’s presence adding just the right amount of political gravity.
The contract itself, between the Greek state and GEK TERNA—the company now responsible for handling most of the project—covered a 157-kilometer segment. As paperwork met pen, Heraklion guests witnessed billions evaporate from government accounts with all the efficiency of a magician’s disappearing act. In this case, roughly 2 billion euros found new purpose—paving roads and, incidentally, smoothing political ambitions.
Curious onlookers, residents, and a smattering of tourists who wondered if they’d wandered onto a Greek version of C-SPAN could stream the event live here. Whether it’s politics or drama, Crete never disappoints.
The irony is sharp. Despite countless promises that the highway would run uninterrupted from Kissamos in the west to Sitia in the east, the project’s current incarnation halts at Agios Nikolaos. Sitia and its neighbors, with their back-row seats, remain cut off from safe and modern road access—not that anyone in the front row seems in a hurry to change this.
Official Silence and Budgetary Acrobatics
Why does Sitia get the silent treatment? In April, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Nikos Tachiaos, in a casual chat with Sitia’s mayor, reassured everyone that priorities lay elsewhere—a sentiment later supported by his masterful avoidance of the topic during an actual interview. His reasoning had all the hallmarks of political creativity: a classic lack of state funds, the perennial scapegoat for unfinished business and unrealized maps.
And so, Sitia watches, waits, and wonders how much longer they will read the word ‘VOAK’ as a local punchline. For now, the official mood seems to be: enjoy your roads, if you have them, and be patient if you don’t. There’s always next year.
