The government's policy of privatizing irrigation projects, thereby increasing the cost of irrigation water, is criticized in a press release by SYRIZA-PS MPs Stavros Arachovitis and Socrates Famellos.
Read in detail.
Η SYRIZA government approved and included 35 large irrigation projects, with 100% public funding, through the Rural Development Program (RDP) and the Public Investment Program (PIP). However, today, The New Democracy government has chosen to privatize irrigation projects through public-private partnerships., even granting Recovery Fund financing to private individuals.
Following the increases in all agricultural supplies and energy faced by Greek producers, increases the cost of irrigation water used by farmers, since the pricing for use will also incorporate depreciation and the private investor's profits.
With Mitsotakis' choices, In addition to the cost of irrigation, there will also be the profits of the private individuals involved in the 21 irrigation projects. PPP in irrigation projects simply means that farmers will bear the increased cost of irrigation and that few private individuals will take on this public service and regional development project without risk, and above all access to the resources of the Recovery Fund.
In fact, in order to satisfy the appetites of the large contractors who will undertake the irrigation networks, the government is including in the PPPs the TOEB irrigation network of Tavropos, Karditsa, which had already been included in the 2014-2020 Rural Development Program, i.e. the 31 major land improvement projects that the SYRIZA government secured as public works with European funding.
This raises two questions: How much more will Mitsotakis's irrigation water now cost farmers in Karditsa, and What will be the next public irrigation projects to be removed from the RDP so that Mr. Mitsotakis can give them away to some private individual?, since only 8 of the 21 announced were revealed? Unless their hasty planning prevented them from completing the “show” of announcing all the projects.
However, where they broke all records was in distorting reality. To cover up the privatization of irrigation with a smokescreen of rhetoric, they referred to “pioneering and climate-friendly planning after decades.” This was obviously false, since the SYRIZA government had taken timely steps to ensure that our country's obligations were met, both for Water Management Planning and Flood Risk Management Planning.
Indeed, Because the Samaras-Venizelos government had serious outstanding issues with these European obligations, all water projects (water supply, sewerage, and irrigation) throughout Greece were put on hold.. SYRIZA's initiatives freed up useful resources and In 2019, the SYRIZA government included 31 major irrigation projects with public funding of €450 million in the RDP.
However, what the experts failed to mention is that the country must revise its River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) and Flood Risk Management Plans by December 31, 2021, and the Mitsotakis government has not prepared for this., with the risk of our country being exposed to the EU once again.
Obviously, the projects announced yesterday by Mr. Mitsotakis are not a response to climate change., since no Regional Plan for adaptation to climate change has been completed under the responsibility of the government. Climate Change, which were legislated in 2016 and launched in all regions of the country under the SYRIZA government.
Ultimately, beyond the grand rhetoric on climate change, the government has failed to secure the conditions necessary for climate-resilient irrigation and agriculture. It is evident that the The Mitsotakis government's priority is not farmers and the climate crisis, but the privatization of everything and the looting of public infrastructure.
