The administration of the Municipality of Kythera, showing reflexes - which were obviously activated by the two recent articles of Kythera.News (see the here and here), replied today, Thursday, 10/12/20, to the 16/11 question from the minority opposition on the burning issue of the extension of the airport runway.
In its response, the Municipality goes into a detailed account of the events that have led us to the current quagmire and it is true that it is consistent and enlightening in presenting all the facts and dates from the end of the last decade until March 2019. From there, however, «radio silence». Just a general invocation of the pandemic that has put the brakes on proceedings. «covid-19 saves the King», we might paraphrase at random.
In the Press Release issued by the Municipality of Kythera, the Municipality of Kythera is unleashing its arrows against the former Regional Authority (apparently inspired by the recent statement of the former Vice-Regional Governor, Mr Stavros Hadjiperos in Kythera.News), as well as the leadership of the Ministry of Public Works, in which he blames unjustified delay and delaying tactics, both in the estimation of the total amount for the tender of the project, and in the environmental conditions, which he defines as a necessary condition in order to proceed with the project.
And yes, the general view of things on the part of the municipal authority, according to which the monster of Greek bureaucracy cannot be tamed even in this case, seems to be correct. It is the age-old nemesis of everything creative that people and institutions in this country strive to promote. As long as this promotion is not limited to a standard series of emails, which the mayor may have sent out from time to time to all concerned.
But this is not enough! «You need to break eggs to make an omelette!» Throwing the ball at the Y.P.A., the Region (former and current), the bad bureaucracy, the annoying media, General Anemos... is something that is common in Greece when someone tries to absolve himself of responsibility. And the Municipality of Kythera has a share of responsibility to inform the public opinion about the whole stagnation that is observed. Especially in the last 18 months.
This stagnation is shown by something very simple. From the difference of opinion observed with the current administration of the Region of Attica. Which, in the its letter of reply to the relevant question of Kythera.News, clarifies that «The renewal of the AEPO of the existing airport infrastructure is a prerequisite for any further action.», while it (i.e. the Region) «is in daily and constructive cooperation with the Mayor of Kythera...». At the same time, however, the mayor of Kythera, this same renewal of the AEPO (environmental permit), characterizes it as «an unthinkable condition on the part of the Ministry of Public Works for the continuation of the process.»
So? Is the «constructive cooperation» that the Region of Attica invokes to characterize its relationship with the Municipality in question or not?;
And does this apparent differentiation in the practices of the two institutions, in itself, constitute a «delaying tactics», which partly explains the stagnation observed in the critical period of the last 18 months;
In addition, it is surprising that in the press release of the Municipality, no answer is given as to whether it has been mobilized and whether it has taken any action towards the two ministries (Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Environment and Public Works) where the project file is located.
And finally, there is no document presented by the mayor to support any of his initiatives during the critical period of the last 18 months.
The issue is much more serious than «constant harassment by mail».
Read below the press release of the Municipality of Kythera:
The Truth about the Kythera Airport Studies
The Municipal Authority responded today 10/12/2020 to the question of the minority minority regarding the delay in the tendering of the final studies for the extension of the runway at the Kythera State Airport «Alexandros Aristotelous Onassis». The reply sent to the leader of the minority minority, Mr Dimitris Kontoleonta, leaves no room for misinterpretation or questions, as it is accompanied by irrefutable documents, which briefly show the following:
- The CAA has over time been rather negative to the fair request of the Municipality and the local community for the extension of the runway at Kythera Airport. Proof of this, in particular, is the letter of the CAA to the Municipality of Kythera on 24/3/2008 (no. 762), which states, without any substantiation, that the cost of the project and the expropriation «exceeds 30.000.000€», without this being substantiated, but in fact constituting a direct attempt by the CAA to prevent the execution of this project.
- Total required 33 months (!) from the approval of the Legal Service of the Region (02/03/2015) until the signing of the Feasibility Study Contract by the Region (19/12/2017)! It should be noted that this was a a simple open invitation to tender, without pre-contractual control by the Court of Auditors.
- The sudden change of the Public Procurement Law in August 2016, interrupted the rebidding process of the Feasibility Study on almost 1 year (first unsuccessful tender on 03/08/2016 and a repeat tender with a contractor on 06/06/2017).Despite our constant reminders and protests to the competent Ministry about the need for a period of adaptation to the new public procurement framework, the competent Minister κ. Spirtzis never responded in substance to the agony of the Mayors and Regional Governors, resulting in the «stagnation» of public and municipal projects throughout the country for almost 1 year., especially in small and understaffed municipalities. Clear proof of the sloppiness and the problems of this Law is that it has so far has been modified almost 250 times (!) with successive amendments and corrections.
- The CAA was delayed almost 1 year in order to approve the Feasibility Study: the study was submitted to the CAA by the Region on 25-05-2018 and approved on 07-03-2019, with the unsubstantiated condition of issuing an AEPO before the final studies were carried out.
- In total, therefore, exactly 4 years were spent between the approval of the Region's Legal Department for the signing of the Programme Agreement between the Region and the Domestic Property (02/03/2015) until the final approval of the Feasibility Study by the CAA (07/03/2019)! During this period, the Municipality of Kythera had no involvement whatsoever in the relevant procedures, neither as an implementing agency or tenderer, nor as a contractor or in any other way. However, we constantly harassed all the relevant departments, and the Administration of the Region was fully aware of these delays as is also evident from the relevant documents..
Retrospective and safe statements have nothing to offer especially when they are made by people who were fully aware for the above delays. We would therefore expect, especially from those who have been political supervisors of the competent departments that handled the issue (Technical Works Directorate of the Region of Attica and the Civil Aviation Authority), to document with concrete data and documents (and not theoretically with weighty statements empty of substance) the why it took 4 years to sign a simple study contract, a simple open tender, which was not even subject to a pre-contractual audit by the Court of Auditors. We will ask questions until we get informed answers. We note that in these 4 years, the Municipality of Kythera with only one engineer and with the assistance of the engineers of TTYND, which constitute the Technical Service of the Municipality (Article 52 of Law 3979/2011) completed almost 90 auctions...
The Municipal Authority is in close cooperation with the Region in order to overcome the unthinkable obstacles set by the CAA and to proceed with the tendering of the final studies.
See the files attached to the City's response:
