GREECE will put off by a month the sale of majority stake in its biggest ports, Piraeus and Thessaloniki, the head of the country’s privatization agency said in a newspaper interview published Saturday.

    Setting a date to submit binding bids for Piraeus and Thessaloniki ports is one of the actions that Athens needs to complete to conclude its first bailout review and unlock more funds for its 86-billion-euro (US$112 billion) bailout.

    “The submission [of bids] for OLP (Piraeus Port operator) will take place Nov. 30 or early December at the latest,” the head of privatization agency (HRADF) Stergios Pitsiorlas told the Kathimerini newspaper.

    China’s Cosco Group, Danish container terminal operator APM Terminals and Philippines-based International Container Terminal Services have until Oct. 30 to submit binding bids for a 51 percent stake in OLP.

    But Greek government officials told Reuters this month that the early Sept. 20 election had held up work and the deadline would be pushed back by about 20 days.

    Pitsiorlas also said that Greece will push back the deadline to receive binding bids for the Thessaloniki port to the end of March from early February.

    Eight firms, including APM Terminals and Russia’s state railway company, have been shortlisted for the Thessaloniki port.

    Privatizations have been a key part of Athens’ efforts to develop its state assets and raise money to cut Greece’s mountainous debt. (SD-Agencies)