The project of the pedestrian-bicycle path of the lakeside area from Mavili square and beyond is a priority project for the municipal authority and will proceed despite the difficulties.
This was emphasized by Thomas Begas, speaking at the pre-day debate of the Ioannina municipal council on Monday afternoon, taking as an occasion the statements of last Friday by the leader of the “Ioannina Beautiful City” faction, Pantelis Kolokas, regarding the new law on the cleaning or redefinition coastal, coastal and other areas throughout the territory.
The issue is causing tensions that are fueled by the leader of the “Beautiful City” faction, as it was also shown by today’s excessive reports during the city council meeting.
Mayor Thomas Begas emphasized that “the lakeside bike path is a vital project for our municipal authority, it is a project to protect and highlight the lake”. All the studies were done legally, taking into account the existing legislation at the time, the drawing of the project passes between the red and yellow lines of the demarcation of Lake Pamvotida, with the agreement of the State Real Estate Service as noted by the Mayor and he added that issues of expropriation in the zone between red and yellow lines, have been made by the state. In the context of the implementation of the project, the compilation of cadastral tables proceeded on a previous municipal authority as required, in order to pay the beneficiaries the compensations and any legislative development will be taken into account, Mr. Begas emphasized. The modifications will be made based on the current existing legislation and if necessary.
Responding to the criticisms of P. Kolokas, Mr. Begas invited him to state to whom the 12 million euros of the Petsa announcement was given, in November 2021, however, he blamed the previous municipal authority for four years that the project under its responsibility has not started . In conclusion, Mr. Begas emphasized that “as long as the Lake Presidential Decree is not instituted, there will continue to be loopholes that will allow cheap actions at the expense of the Lake” and pledged that he would immediately take care to be informed about the course of the PD and inform the body.
Reinforcing what the Mayor said, the Deputy Mayor for Development Planning Thomas Giotitsas emphasized that there is no longer any funding. The 12 million euros were supposed to come from the “Antonis Tritsis” program, but this amount was not enough for the 30 kilometers of the project under study, but for a minimal part of it. He challenged Mr. Kolokas to name the political actors of the ND who ordered the 12 million euros.
New complaints from Koloka
Dimitris Papageorgiou, head of the major opposition, forgetting his term of office, accused the Bega municipal authority that the project of the bike path remained at a standstill. It is a common pursuit to protect the Lake, however, he emphasized and agreed only with point modifications to the boundary line of Pamvotida. The same and Tatiana Kalogianni emphasized that for her faction the priority is the protection of the Lake and the PD of the Lake, followed by the bicycle and pedestrian path.
The head of the “Beautiful City” faction came back with new complaints, recalling what Mario said in 2019 to the city council about the weaknesses of the project. He became quite popular, warning that there is a risk of demolishing the nautical facilities where the Olympic champion Stefanos Duskos trains, with whom, as he said, everyone wants to be photographed… He also talked about attempts to grab property around the Lake and paralleled the legal procedure that has been followed to date, with the up to the previous legislative regime, with the theft of properties of Greek expatriates in Heimarra! He emphasized that not a single meter of the bike path will progress if there are no serious initiatives from the municipal authority and finally, he again called on the administration of the Municipality to get in touch with the concerned citizens.
Closing the discussion, the Mayor of Ioannina stated that in the planning of important interventions he chooses to stay away from “populism and meremetia”.
