Municipality: AEPP is indifferent to water scarcity by running the desalination

In a press release issued by the Municipal Authority refers to the sensitive issue of desalinations in Kythera, the solution of which is seen as urgent but delayed due to the policy of the Authority for the Examination of Preliminary Appeals (AEPPA), which annulled the urgent nature of the relevant tender, entangling the whole process in the gears of the lengthy Greek bureaucracy.

Read the press release, with the chronology of the case and what happens next.

«On the desalination tender

The Municipal Authority, with a high sense of responsibility, already in 2014, proceeded with important water supply projects, aiming to minimize water supply problems, first of all in the large settlements of the island which, due to overconsumption and high traffic, suffered every summer from long or even multi-day interruptions. With the Press Release issued on 13 August 2021, we informed in great detail about all the projects and actions in the water supply sector, which include 3 portable desalination units, which our Municipal Authority matured design and are funded by the Region of Attica. The process of maturing this project was not easy, nor was it done by magic. It took a long time (almost 3 years) for the licensing of the project, the signing of the Programme Contract and finally the tendering of the project..

In accordance with the Proclamation No. 2582/31-5-2021 of the Municipality of Kythera, a Public Invitation to Tender was issued, in accordance with the provision of article 50 of Law 4487/2017 («Temporary Installation and Operation of Desalination Plants»), as amended and in force, in accordance with the article 129 of Law 4764/2020, for the selection of a contractor for a supply contract, entitled «Construction and Operation of Desalination Units in the Settlements of Agia Pelagia and Diakofti».

The subject of the contract was the supply of three (3) portable seawater desalination units with a capacity of 300 m3/day each, in order to provide on a 24-hour basis, water suitable for drinking by the residents and visitors of the island of Kythera and specifically the settlements of Agia Pelagia (the two units) and Diakofti (the one unit), including the connection of the desalination units with the internal networks of the settlements.

The estimated value of the contract under award was in the amount of 1.720.000,00€ including VAT 24 %.

Our Municipality due to the bureaucratic delays for the Programmatic Contract with the Region for the execution of this supply and the unprecedented water shortage of the last 3 years, made use - as an absolute right - of Article 50 of Law 4487/2017 which states that: «Paragraph 1. Until 31.12.2022, the temporary installation and operation of water production units for water supply through desalination, with a capacity of less than 2,000 m3/day, is allowed for the service of emergency and short-term water supply needs of islands under the jurisdiction of the General Secretariat for the Aegean and Island Policy of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Island Policy, as defined in article 12 of Law No. 4597/2019 (A` 35) and Paragraph 5. For the temporary installation and operation of the units referred to in this Article, the following shall apply as provided for in Article 117 of Law 4412/2016 (A’ 147), regardless of the estimated value of the contract».

Based on the above legislative framework, our Municipality proceeded with the tender procedure for the supply of the desalination units in accordance with the provisions of Article 117 of Law 4412/16, i.e. with the procedures of the restricted tender.

It is worth mentioning that this short tendering procedure has been carried out by too many island municipalities and even some of them to obtain second (in addition to the existing desalination plant) desalination plant. All of these tenders were carried out using exactly the same procedure chosen by our Municipality and approved in their entirety by the Court of Auditors., while all the projects mentioned are fully operational. Indicatively, some of these tenders are listed:

• «Supply of a portable seawater desalination unit, daily production of 100 m3 of fresh water for Chrysomilia» of Municipality of Fourni - Corse with IDN 21PROC008618637 2021-05-18
• «Supply of a portable seawater desalination unit with a daily production of 200 m3 of drinking water for the needs of the Municipality of Ithaca» with ID number 20PROC006256563 2020-02-07
• «Supply and installation of a desalination plant Municipality of Antiparos» with ADAM
  19PROC006115295 2019-12-30
• «Supply of portable desalination plant with a production capacity of 600 m3/d of drinking water in Aegiali Amorgos» with ID number 19PROC005671529 2019-10-08
• «Supply of a portable seawater desalination unit with a daily production of 100 m3 of fresh water in the Mathraki Corfu» with ADAM
  19PROC005248880 2019-07-09
• «Supply of a portable seawater desalination unit with a daily production of 80 m3 of fresh water for the island of Antipaxes» with IDN 19PROC004838552 2019-04-22
• «Supply of a new municipal desalination plant with a capacity of 200 m3/d of clean water production at the location of Boounamas Sikinos in addition to the existing desalination plant of equivalent capacity» with IDN 19PROC004645414 2019-03-02

Due to the intense competition in the specific market for the supply of desalination plants, it is common for there to be pre-litigation disputes between companies with references, usually to ambiguities in the declaration, which are answered by means of clarifications. A similar appeal before the AEPP (Authority for the Examination of Preliminary Objections) was submitted for the project of remote control of water supply networks in our municipality 3 years ago.

In the case of desalination, 2 of the companies operating in the area, appealed to AEPP and our Municipality legally and timely responded to the appeals by clearly documenting its views. Indeed one of the two applicant companies submitted its tender for the competition in due form, effectively annulling its own application! AEPP, with a legally perforated decision, ruled that there was no reason of urgency (!!!!) for the operation of desalination and therefore did not have to follow the derogatory summary tender procedure provided for in the Law (the summary tender with the open tender have not no substantive difference in matters of publicity and transparency). In other words, adopting specific arguments put forward by the applicant companies, AEPP did not care about the water scarcity that plagues the island, did not take into account the relevant certificates of the National Observatory of Athens regarding the amount of rainfall and ultimately annulled the tender, ordering a repeat of the tender, with an open electronic procedure that will require more than 8 months until the contract is signed, making the operation of the desalination system uncertain even for the summer of 2022!

Although we firmly believe that we would be fully justified in taking the case to the Supreme Court of Cassation (Council of State), however we decided not to challenge the decision of AEPP, because this would freeze the tender process of desalination at best for 1 year.

Our Municipality is already in the process of making all the necessary improvements to the notice in question in accordance with the current legislative framework on Public Procurement, so that the new publication of the notice can take place within the next few weeks. The operation of desalination plants on our island is a commitment and priority of our Municipal Authority and will become a reality, just like the multitude of projects that we constantly tender, execute and complete.»