Greece has had to postpone the award of a 1 billion euro tender for a new airport on Crete, the second time it has pushed back a project seen as a test of investor appetite for deals in the recession-hit country. Kasteli is the first major infrastructure project Greece's Socialist government has tackled since winning power in October 2009. It is one of a raft of big investment plans the country needs to kickstart growth and exit its debt crisis. "The interested groups asked us to extend the deadline for the submission of financial offers to June 7," deputy Infrastructure Minister Giannis Magriotis said in an interview. This is the second delay to the Kasteli tender on technicalities. The initial deadline for opening bids and naming a winner had been set at Oct. 19, 2010, and the second deadline was for early March. "There have been significant changes (to the tender) to make Kasteli a full-service airport," he said. "We're in the final straight now." Greece is one of Europe's top tourist destinations and Kasteli will become its second-biggest airport after Athens in terms of foreign traffic. It will replace Crete's outdated Heraklion airport, which is bursting under the strain of handling nearly 2 million tourists a year. More than 13 domestic and foreign construction firms expressed initial interest, Magriotis said, adding he hoped the airport would be operational by the summer of 2015. France's Vinci, the world's largest construction and concessions group, has already said it would bid for the project, which is co-financed by the government, the EU and the European Investment Bank (EIB).
