Mayor's meetings with members of the Government

The Mayor of Kythera, Mr. Efstratios Harhalakis, who is on a scheduled business trip to Athens, met with the Deputy Ministers of Shipping and Insular Policy, Environment and Energy and Rural Development and Food. In particular:

1. In meeting with the Deputy Minister of Shipping and Island Policy Mr. Konstantinos Katsafados current issues of concern to the Municipality of Kythera were discussed, while the participation of the Deputy Minister in the anniversary event to be held in September on the occasion of the completion of 5 years of productive operation of the Attica Islands Network was confirmed. Mr Katsafados announced to the Mayor that within the next few days, the second subsidized route Gythio - Kythera, which the local community has been demanding for many years, will start. The shipowning company, following a request from the Mayor and the local authorities, which was strongly supported by the political leadership of the Ministry of Transport, approved the additional approach (without subsidy) to Antikythera and every Thursday, so that the Antikytherians who wish to travel to Piraeus are not forced to stay in Kythera for ten hours, as the Sunday itinerary will be added to the 2^η approach to Gythio. Thus, with the 2 ships serving our islands, the ferry service of our region is at one of the best levels of the last decades..
2. With the Mr Georgios Amyras, Deputy Minister of Environment and Energy discussed the serious problems with the posting of forest maps as well as the thorny issue of the legalisation of ports, which has become intractable due to the labyrinthine bureaucracy and the refusal of the competent authorities to take on their enormous responsibilities, which have lasted for decades. On behalf of the Mayor it was proposed specific legislative solution which the Deputy Minister undertook to examine immediately. In addition, the long-standing proposal of our Municipality to make the construction of a water storage tank in every new building on the islands mandatory by law, in order to significantly mitigate the problem of saving water resources.
3. In Mr Yannis Economou, Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Food the issue of the delay of payments for the CLLD/LEADER programme was raised, as well as the request of the Attica Islands Network for the approval of an overcommitment of approximately 1.500.000€ in order to finance all the positively evaluated proposals for the 8 Municipalities of the P.E. of the Attica Islands.