The latest "hiccup" in the government's ongoing privatization program again emanated from the Greek culture ministry, as the latter appears to have requested that buildings within the Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) be returned to the state in order to house a museum.
According to press reports on Wednesday , a culture ministry general secretary early last month requested from the relevant maritime ministry that a prominent grain silo and accompanying warehouses at the port be returned to state control in order to host a museum of antiquities of salvaged and recovered in underwater research and excavations.
Chinese multinational Cosco assumed control of the Piraeus Port Authority last August after purchasing a 67-percent stake of its shares during an international tender for the facility.
Wednesday's report comes roughly one week after a request by the culture minister surfaced requesting from a members of a relevant ministry committee to reconsider a decision. Committee members declined to recognize a trio of buildings at the disused Athens airport as examples of "modern architectural monuments".
Facilities of the old Athens airport, including runways, terminals and hangers, occupy most of the area at the Helleniko site, billed as the biggest real estate development project in the Mediterranean.
The culture minister, actress Lydia Koniordou, rescinded her request hours after the Helleniko issue surfaced.
