L. Mendoni: 55 million projects will be done in the Dodecanese

Visit to the Rhodes, during which she dealt with issues of her competence, having cooperation with local bodies and actors, held today the Minister of Culture and Sport Mrs. Lina Mendoni.

As announced, they are scheduled to be carried out on the islands of the Dodecanese with funding from the Recovery Fund 55 million. In addition, the Ministry of Culture will provide €17 million for the restoration of the National Theatre of Rhodes, project for which a programmatic contract will be signed between the Ministry, the South Aegean Region and the Municipality of Rhodes. The Minister also dealt with issues relating to the properties of the Medieval City of Rhodes for which there are plans for their development by the Ministry of Culture, in cooperation with local authorities.

Regarding the restoration of the National Theatre, the Minister of Culture pointed out in her statements that it will reopen with all modern standards.

After describing the cooperation with the region and the municipality of Rhodes as extremely good, Mendoni stressed that the last time she came to our island in the autumn with the Prime Minister and even then he announced that the state is undertaking the restoration of the National Theatre of Rhodes, a pioneering project for its time, not in terms of construction but in terms of its conception.

According to her, the Prime Minister said at the time that with the resources of the Ministry of Culture will be able very soon in the first half of 2022 to put the specific project of restoration and reopening of the National Theatre to tender, because the aim is not only to restore the monument but to reopen it with all the modern standards that such a theatre requires.

That is why, as he said, studies have been included concerning the operation of a conference and translation centre, intercommunication, teleconferencing, audio recordings, etc., studies required for the operation of a standard theatre.

«Approved by the Ministry of Culture after the opinion of the Central Council of Modern Monuments, the set of advanced preliminary studies that will be part of the project's declaration file. The budget of the project is 17 million 235 thousand euros of which 16 million 800 thousand is from the recovery fund from the program of the Ministry of Culture and 400 thousand euros is from the region.

The technical sheet has already been submitted to the recovery fund and is under evaluation. The project is on the list of projects that the ministry has submitted to the recovery fund and have been accepted.

Right now the process of drafting the programme contract has been completed. On Monday it will be sent to the audit conference for audit. Today at its meeting the Central Council of Modern Monuments advises that the project can be carried out by the district. The developer of the project is the municipality of Rhodes, the implementing body is the region and the funding body is the Ministry of Culture, which is why the programme contract is needed. The goal is by June to be able to put the project out to tender,» Mendoni said.

The regional governor

Welcoming the minister, the regional governor George Hadjimarkos, did not hide his pleasure for her presence since, as he said, in every meeting, steps are taken, decisions are taken which lead to the treatment, solution and promotion of very important issues on the issues of her competence. Then, the regional governor spoke about the very good cooperation that exists with the Ministry of Culture, which produces results visible in society, throughout the South Aegean.

He also thanked the Minister because, as he said, in every meeting he feels that the policy that says that society is at the centre is justified and emphasized the meeting that distinguishes them.

The first main issue on the agenda that has been opened, could not be any other for the regional governor than the National Theatre for which he said that the minister, the mayor of Rhodes and himself, «is an alliance that comes to rescue a wonderful Monument and deliver it back to society functional. After seventeen years of just removing things from there, it's time to fix it,» he said and continued: «True to the commitments we made before the Prime Minister, in October 2021 here, the timetable is being dutifully adhered to, with a lot of hard work on everyone's part and despite the anxieties that every season brings, a wonderful period of financial opportunities is opening up before us, such as the Recovery Fund and the NSRF 2021-2027.

In both of these major funding opportunities for our country and our region, Mr.Hadjimarkos assured that we are fully prepared and through cooperation a very large number of cultural projects find the necessary funding.

In closing, the regional governor did not fail to say that he will insist on consensus, trust, the willingness to cooperate, the result of a relationship that is built day by day, which is based on respect for the role of each other and the needs of society.