The much-publicized demolition programme on seashore and beaches, launched with great fanfare last year - funded by the Green Fund - and advertised as the state's «response» to the legalisation of arbitrary buildings over the last decade.
On Tuesday evening, 02/03, was filed amendment in Parliament, which suspends all demolitions on the seashore (which, it should be noted, concern cases that have been finalised for years) until November, with the alleged cause... coronavirus.
The suspension comes at a time when the Decentralized Administrations have signed contracts with contractors, which will result in the State paying compensation for delays.
Last November, the then Environment Minister Kostis Hatzidakis and Deputy Minister Nikos Tagaras asked (again) in a letter to the Decentralized Administrations throughout the country to speed up the demolition of arbitrary demolitions in forests and coastal areas. «In this effort, you have our full support,» it concluded at the time.
Three months later, the turnaround is complete. With an amendment submitted to the Parliament, to a draft law of the Ministry of Development on public procurement (and signed by the Minister of Environment, Kostas Skreka, among others), the execution of all demolition protocols on beaches, beaches, lakes, banks, etc. is suspended until 31 October.
According to the explanatory memorandum of the amendment, the regulation is introduced because the coronavirus has delayed the legalisation procedures. Only that the legalization of arbitrary buildings on the seashore is generally prohibited, with the only exceptions being some special projects of public interest (on the contrary, the suspension granted is general, i.e. it applies up to beach bars and all kinds of illegalities by hotels and taverns).
Source: (but probably not the cause, which should be sought in the pressures exerted for years by the hotel industry and various local small interests) is the demolition program that started a few days ago by the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia-Thrace (budget 1.1 million euros).
The first demolitions took place in the past few days in Asprovalta and Siviri. Then came the turn of Nikiti, where the municipality arbitrarily placed «sand holders», i.e. rocks in order to supposedly protect the coast from erosion (supposedly, as without a coastal engineering study any intervention can have even destructive effects).
The demolition was scheduled to begin the day before yesterday, with a strong police force but without the presence of a prosecutor. In the end, it never started, for fear of incidents (the absence of a prosecutor certainly contributed to the «imposition» of the opponents). Then, last night, the relevant amendment was tabled.
It is recalled that last year the Green Fund decided to allocate the largest amount to date (about 6.6 million euros) to the Decentralized Administrations throughout the country, in order to proceed with a program of demolitions in forests and coastal areas. With this development, these contracts will have to be frozen and the decentralised agencies will be asked to pay the contractors. At the same time, the State once again vindicates those who broke the law, indicating that «nothing is more permanent than the temporary»....
