Speaking to the mayors of Eastern Attica, the prime minister committed to a development master plan that will indicate the priorities and financial tools that will be launched for the region.
Meeting with them Mayors of Eastern Attica carried out by the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis who visited the offices of the Vice-region of Eastern Attica in Pallini on Monday afternoon.
“The money allocated to the Local Government in the last three years far exceeded the resources that had been disbursed in the previous decade”, noted the Prime Minister in his statement during the meeting.
Referring to the development potential of Eastern Attica, he emphasized the need for a comprehensive plan that will utilize the region’s advantages.
“It seems that Eastern Attica lacks a master plan, an overall development plan, which will cover all levels of the discussion regarding the interventions that should be made either at the national, regional, or local level. An overall plan the who will indicate priorities, financial tools and above all synergies between the different actions that we will launch”, he pointed out.
“We are conducting a comprehensive review of the operating framework of the decentralized Administrations with some initial interventions which can possibly be done soon: simplification of bureaucracymainly, and a deeper more structural intervention which will also be our pre-election commitment for the second four-year term regarding the formation for the levels of governance of the state”, Kyriakos Mitsotakis added.
The elections will be held at the end of the four years
The Prime Minister also focused on the governability of the municipalities due to the problems caused by the electoral system of simple analog: “We have intervened, we have a new electoral law, but you also see that governability – especially when we have to manage crises – and stability must be non-negotiable priorities in terms of the support they get from the institutional framework, in this case from the electoral law” , while he repeated his commitment to elections at the end of the four years. “It is a Greek paradox that the Prime Minister’s commitment that the elections will be done at the end of the four years. But this will happen. That is why we have enough time ahead of us to implement our work, whether we are talking about institutional interventions, or we are mainly talking about the start, continuation and completion of important projects at the local, regional and national level”.
Reserves to support households and businesses
Finally, referring to its effects energy crisisKyriakos Mitsotakis noted: “We are facing an unprecedented energy crisis, the likes of which we have not experienced before for 50 years and for which we must be ready, as a central government, to keep the relevant reserves in order to continue supporting businesses, households, government bodies but we are confident in our capabilities and in our planning that although the winter may be difficult, we have faced several difficulties in the three years that we have been Government, we will overcome this too”.
Voridis: Institutional movements for the symptoms of anarchy
THE Minister of the Interior Makis Voridis highlighted the institutional moves in which the government has proceeded in order to deal with the symptoms of anarchy caused by the simple analogy in Local Self-Government, while at the same time he listed the steps that have been taken to reform the operation of the Decentralized Administrations.
Mr. Voridis pointed out at the same time that the institutional framework that was recently passed for the Construction Services of the Municipalities, combined with their staffing with 150 organic engineer positions, restores their operation. He also noted that a large part of the 2023 annual recruitment planning will be given to Local Government with an emphasis on the staffing of Municipalities with specialized scientific staff, which will significantly support their operation.
Finally, he praised the significant financial support provided by the government to Local Government, with a view to the development of local societies.
Petsas: Projects amounting to *189 million euros through the Antonis Tritsis program
The close cooperation between the central administration and the local government and the constant utilization of the financial tools available for the support of the OTAs was pointed out by the Deputy Minister of the Interior Stelios Petsas.
“Through the “Antonis Tritsis” Program, projects amounting to 189 million euros have been included, involving traditional infrastructure projects (e.g. rural road construction in Lavrio), urban revitalization projects (e.g. regeneration of Drosia in Dionysos, regeneration of Nea Makris in Marathon, Lathea park in Acharnes), to projects to reduce the environmental footprint (e.g. electrification in Pallini and Paania, recycling in Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni) and digital transformation (e.g. Markopoulos). €63 million has also been given to cover emergency needs, from the pandemic to overdue obligations and lifeguard coverage. While for energy costs we have allocated €218 million to the Local Government in the first half of the year, against an estimated annual additional cost of €270 million to absorb the shocks”.
In addition, Mr. Petsas emphasized the importance of the new call for road construction projects with an emphasis on road safety in the amount of 335 million euros, financed by the Recovery Fund and addressed to Municipalities and Regions.
Karagiannis: Interventions of approximately 2 billion euros in Eastern Attica
The government’s plan to fully upgrade the infrastructure and quality of life for more than 400,000 residents in Eastern Attica was outlined by Deputy Minister responsible for Infrastructure, Giorgos Karagiannis.
“Our interventions amount to approximately 2 billion euros and solve issues nown, while at the same time creating the development perspective that the region needs. We are proceeding with road projects of around 400 million euros and railway projects of 700 million euros. In the coming years, the Attiki Road will reach Rafina and Lavrio, while these two important ports will be connected via the Suburban Railway to the rest of the network, offering better and safer transportation, at the same time opening the way for the substantial utilization of the dynamics of the two ports .
With the anti-flood projects worth around 300 million euros, we are fixing dozens of streams and protecting areas such as Rafina, Marathon and Nea Makri from flooding”. write down.
Mr. Karagiannis added that at the same time, “the largest investment program of drainage projects in Eastern Attica, amounting to approximately 800 million euros” is underway.
Zaharaki: The area has an inland area full of alternative tourism options
The possibilities of further development of tourism in Eastern Attica, with expanded service provision and in cooperation with the Municipalities, was mentioned by Deputy Minister of Tourism Sofia Zaharakis.
“In addition to its famous beaches, its marine tourism activities with its marinas and the 2nd largest port in Rafina, the spectacular increase in cruises in Lavrio, the possibilities of cultural, religious and conference tourism as well as health tourism that we actively promote, the region has an inland area full of alternative tourism options, from wine tourism to trail network walking and nature tourism. It also offers many opportunities for city breaks and the hosting of digital nomads, culinary tourism and wine tourism and a wide range of primary sector connection with tourism. The IEK Tourism in Anavyssos really shows the power that education and training have in leading to good jobs and continuous improvement of the tourism product. Our goal is its continuous improvement and, of course, the utilization of interdisciplinary education for the improvement of tourism education”, said Mrs. Zaharaki.
“The existence as well as the imminent strengthening of increased transport infrastructure (Athens Airport, road network) also gives the possibility of quick access to destinations with its ports as a starting point, while the region is also attracting strong investment interest with direct investments in the hotel sector”, added the Deputy Minister.
Who attended the meeting?
The meeting was attended by the mayor of Acharnon, Spyros Vrettos, the mayor of Vari – Voula – Vouliagmeni, Grigoris Constantellos, the mayor of Dionysos, Yiannis Kalafatelis, the mayor of Kropias, Dimitris Kiousis, the mayor of Lavreotiki, Dimitris Loukas, the mayor of Marathon, Stergios Tsirkas, the mayor of Paiania, Isidoros Madis, the mayor of Pallini, Athanasios Zoutsos, the mayor of Rafina – Pikermio, Evangelos Bournos, the mayor of Saronikos, Petros Filippou, the mayor of Spaton – Artemis, Dimitris Markou, the mayor of Ovropou, George Giasimakis and the deputy mayor Markopoulou Dimitris .
The meeting was attended by the Minister of the Interior and Member of Parliament for Eastern Attica, Makis Voridis, the Deputy Minister of the Interior and candidate for parliament in Eastern Attica, Stelios Petsas, the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, responsible for Infrastructure, Giorgos Karagiannis, the Deputy Minister of Tourism and candidate Member of Parliament in Eastern Attica, Sofia Zaharakis, the New Democracy Eastern Attica MPs, Georgia Martinou, Giorgos Vlachos, Vassilis Oikonomou, the Regional Governor of Attica, Giorgos Patoulis and the Secretary of the ND Political Committee, Pavlos Marinakis.
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