The Development Programme of Epirus for 2030, aims to make the region «a real protagonist, not only in development, but also in social cohesion, environmental protection and quality of life», Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed during his speech at the presentation of the programme, which was prepared jointly with the Government, the Region and Local Authorities. The importance of the Greek brand in primary production was highlighted by the Prime Minister from Ioannina
As he pointed out, this is the road map to development, a joint action plan that outlines the way «in order to make Epirus from a tail that was the tail in development and a number of other indicators, a real protagonist.
This is the 9th presentation of a Regional Development Plan, the Prime Minister said and noted that «they all have one thing in common, they all constitute a coherent plan, which has secured resources, specific implementation bodies, implementation schedules. And I think this separates the effort we have made from other attempts to develop regional plans in the past» expressing the belief that these attempts were made for communication and not for substantive reasons.
«The Plan commits all government and local government to be consistent, to complete and deliver projects that are underway, such as road interventions to villages and other actions indicated by the Region and included in the Plan.».
Kyriakos Mitsotakis referred to projects of particular importance. Referring to road infrastructure, he stressed that Epirus is the major beneficiary of 3 roads, which bring it out of isolation.
«Egnatia, a road that comes from the past, was a vision of Constantine Mitsotakis, the Ionian Road and the E65, which when completed will be an important road for Epirus, Western Macedonia, Thessaly and Attica. The Gordian knot for the road Ioannina - Kakkavia has been broken,» the Prime Minister said.
Regarding the port of Igoumenitsa, Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed its huge developmental importance, the process for the concession of the port has been completed, there is a contractor, only the formal ratification of the contract remains and he clarified:
«When we are talking about privatisation, as some people understand it, we are essentially talking about a long-term lease, the port and the infrastructure still belong to the Greek State, a private party comes in and leases it for 40 years, making specific investment commitments, which will come to bear on the very important interventions that we have already made. At the same time, in full consultation with the Municipality, we are also granting uses that have nothing to do with purely port activities to the local community, so that the port of Igoumenitsa can fully unfold its development potential.»
Mitsotakis also referred to the support of all issues concerning the Primary Sector and added: «We have the obligation to safeguard the quality of our products, to ensure feta which is the flagship export, as we have systems of illegal milk imports so we have systems to trace the quality of the product‘.
