Kythera Sewerage: the open letter-complaint «Vol 2» of C. Syralis with addressee E. Harhalakis

The text, now known as «Vol 2», was submitted in response to what the Mayor of Kythera Evstratios Harhalakis said in his statement to Kythera.News on the the engineer's first letter (referred to as «Vol 1») and contains a number of claims concerning the transparency of the tender, construction safety and environmental protection.

The Kythera.News, fully respecting the principles of journalistic ethics and serving the constitutional requirement for full and objective information to citizens, publishes today the entire letter of Mr. Syrmalis. It goes without saying that the publication of the letter does not imply that we endorse the truth of the allegations, which is a matter for other institutions.

In order to facilitate the reading of the multi-page document, here are the four key points on which the complainant focuses:

1. Allegations of pre-coordination and the 2021 correspondence

The reader will note that a large part of the letter is devoted to Mr. Sirmalis' claim that the contractor was effectively pre-selected two years before the formal tender. As key evidence, the researcher cites an e-mail allegedly sent by the Mayor of Kythera on 3 April 2021. In this particular e-mail, the Mayor appears to ask a private individual (whom the complainant identifies with the current contractor) to make an advance payment («against») to the Municipality's designer for a project that was still in the planning stage.

2. Technical deviations and «crawlers»

On the construction side, Mr. Syrmalis provides technical data and photographic material, arguing that the contractor avoids the required deep excavations. According to the document, the pipelines are placed on the surface («crawling pipelines»), which has already resulted in road subsidence of up to 40 cm.. It also raises safety issues about the way the pipelines are supported in old engineering works of Provincial Road 67, and it also refers to a official record of technical specifications which, according to him, was deliberately «disappeared» from the services.

3. Environmental warnings

Of particular interest are the references to wastewater management. The rapporteur calls on the administration to for the underwater pipeline of the Biological Treatment Plant in Capsali, who, according to the text, remains cut off causing environmental damage to the sea. Similarly, it denounces the sewage flow in a stream near the Archaeological Site of Mylopotamos, warning at the same time about the serious risk of contamination of the island's aquifer from the uncontrolled use of sewage.

4. Pending cases and complaints for Planning / Domestic

In the last part, the letter rejects the City's claims of the lack of formal contracts with the engineer. Mr. Syrmalis quotes history of unpaid studies (such as those for the port areas of Avlaimona and Agia Pelagia) as well as attach a file with copies of its previous invoices for payment from the Municipality of Kythera, while he does not hesitate to leave points for tolerance of the administration towards urban arbitrariness and encroachments, involving the administration of the Domestic Property (He has previously taken legal action by him in the recent past. Cf. 1 and 2)

Next steps: Appeal to the judiciary

Mr. Syralis does not limit himself to simply recording the complaints. In his document, he explicitly announces his next institutional actions, making it clear that the investigation of the legality of the tender and the discounts is no longer his responsibility, but «the institutions of Greek and European Justice», to which, as he states, he will soon appeal.

The time of the answers

The seriousness of the allegations presented by Mr. Syralis leaves no room for silence. The Kythera.News has proceeded to send official questions to those responsible (the Municipal Authority and the entire City Council), providing the obvious right of reply. As is known, the entire «Vol 2» document has already been sent to every single Councillor on the island.

Until the due explanations are given, we are submitting the full text of the complaint, as sent to the local media, for public scrutiny and to the competent authorities.

EDITORIAL NOTE: All the attached files accompanying the letter of Mr.Syrmalis (technical - financial data, topographical drawings, invoices) are in the Kythera.News archive and are available to any competent authority, if requested. It is clarified that in the published letter the personal contact details have been withheld in accordance with the law, without any alteration of the content.

(The letter of Mr. G. Syrmalis is reproduced below)