For years many commentators have bemoaned the fact that Athens is a city with ‘its back to the sea.’ Despite the city’s proximity to a coastline dotted with blue flag winning beaches stretching down to the cape of Sounion with its eponymous temple (where according to legend Theseus’s father, Aegeus, cast himself off the cliffs thus giving the Aegean its name), the Attica seaside is in many places markedly underdeveloped, with the city deprived of a major potential attraction for residents and tourists alike.
In order to develop the 35+ kilometers of coastline in a unified and coherent way, the state-run enterprise Attica Coastline S.A. (Attiko Paraktio Metopo) was established whose charter is to ‘administer and develop public and private facilities located in the area between the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Faliron and Cape Sounion.’
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has personally been a driving force in the realisation of the project which was one of his 2012 pre-election pledges, and which he said would bring billions in revenue to the Attica region.
Since then, the project has been plagued by delays and legal roadblocks.
To date none of the properties to be developed have actually been transferred to Attica Coastline. Yet it received renewed political support from the Prime Minister himself less than two months ago who reportedly sought to put an end to scenarios of ‘fragmentation’ of the project, requesting the relevant ministers accelerate procedures to transfer properties to the company. But apparently the ministers did not receive the memo.
Only a few days ago, or on the 28th of May, the Interministerial Commission for Privatizations authorized the transfer of several the state-owned Attica properties that were earmarked for Attica Coastline, to the Hellenic Asset Development Fund - which is the state run enterprise responsible for selling off state-owned assets for the purpose of servicing Greece’s debt.
These properties were part of a larger package of 55 properties that were transferred to the HRADF.
The ministers who signed the decision included Environment Minister Yiannis Maniatis, and Minister of Infrastructure Michalis Chrysochoidis - i.e. the same individuals that had supposedly agreed with Samaras about the Attica Coastline project in April. (Coincidentally the two latter ministers are both with the PASOK party of Evangelos Venizelos).
Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras and Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni also authorized the transfers to the HRADF.
The three properties that had been included in the Attica Coastline plans but were instead transferred to the HRADF include:
- - A 176.1 thousand square meters (44 acre) plot in the Athens municipality of Glyfada (which includes Olympic sailing facilities).
- - A 383 thousand sq.m. (96 acre) plot in Aspro Lithari Sounion which includes the site of the Cape Sounion luxury hotel
- - A 20.9 thousand sq.m. (5 acre) coastal plot in Glyfada
The announcement of the transfers provoked an angry reaction from the leadership of Attica Coastline.
Aris Matiatos, head of the enterprise was quoted in Kathimerini as saying that “the Prime Minister decided that there should be a unified plan for the coastal front of Attica. This should therefore be continued.”
Matiatos added that not one property had yet been transferred, despite Attica Coastline having already submitted plans for two ministerial decisions for the transfer of 21 properties to the company. A recent law passed by parliament had also sought to facilitate these transfers.
The decision over the three properties has now been recalled.
The HRADF claims that they were included in the transfers by ‘mistake’ (or due to an error) although it seems surprising that an enterprise whose sole task is the organised transfer of state assets could slip up so egregiously over three high profile properties with a total value in the hundreds of millions of euros.
And not one of the eight ministers who signed off on the decision happened to notice the error...
Others believe that the fiasco is the result of a clash between Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras and Samaras.
It has been reported that the decision to recall the transfer of the Attica properties to the HRADF came about following the direct involvement of the Prime Minister who was ‘annoyed’ at the initial move.
It should also be noted that it is not the first time that Attica Coastline and the HRADF have butted heads over properties on the Attica coast. Approximately a year and a half ago there was a disagreement over the ‘Asteras’ property in Lagonisi.
One of the main obstacles faced by Attica Coastline tp date appears to have been foot-dragging on the part of the Finance Ministry.
Perhaps a key point is that all of the revenue from asset sales from the HRADF are required by law to go to servicing the debt. Revenue from property sales by Attica Coastline on the other hand do not have such restrictions.
According to the government, the revenue from the sales would be used to fund developments on the ‘Athens Riviera’ which are widely seen as a pet project of the Prime Minister.
As it appears, the government’s ‘organised plans’ for state asset sales and development of the Attica coast are anything but.
PressProject
Posts
