GREECE has pushed back the date to submit binding bids for a majority stake in its biggest port, Piraeus (OLP), to Dec. 3, the head of its privatization agency said Friday.

    Privatizations have been a key condition of Greece’s international bailouts, but the recession-hit country has raised only 3.5 billion euros (US$3.9 billion) since 2011, far below an initial target of 50 billion euros for 2011-2015.

    Athens is also set to miss this year’s target of 1.4 billion euros in privatization revenues and hopes to raise 3.7 billion euros from state asset sales in 2016.

    Setting a date for binding bids for Piraeus and Thessaloniki ports is one of the actions Greece needs to take to unlock more bailout funds. EU and IMF inspectors visited Athens last week to assess the government’s fiscal and reform progress.

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

    But an early Sept. 20 election held up work and the deadline has been pushed back.

    “We had some delays with the concession agreements so we moved the date to Dec. 3,” Stergios Pitsiorlas, the head of Greece’s privatization agency, told Reuters. “Investors have been notified.”

    After seven months of tense negotiations in Brussels, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ government reactivated the country’s privatization plan as part of its third 86-billion-euro bailout.

    The sale of Greek ports, airports and railways are among the government’s priorities, officials have said, but its plans are likely to be faced with resistance from labor unions. Port workers walked off the job Thursday to protest against the OLP sale.

    (SD-Agencies)