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The
much-anticipated 2008 technical program for the
Gouves
Township, budgeted at a
whopping 4.951.345,00 euros, was announced at a recent town council meeting.
Of that total
amount, 1.280.044,00 is slanted for works in local villages.
On-going works
from previous years, and projects which have been approved and put out for
bid, are not included in the 2008 proposed budget.
Construction of on-off ramp to be completed by the start of new tourist
season
Included in the
on-going works are the overall biological cleaning projects, but new
construction of small biological cleaning plants for the villages of Kalo
Horio, Voritsio, Koxari, Pano Gouves and Haraso have now been included with
a budget of 300.000
euros.
“Biological cleaning is the number one concern of our township,” Mayor
Yiorgos Nikolakakis said. “In addition to this, there are other top priority
items, such as the updating and supplementing of our fresh water and
irrigation systems, and the sorely-needed upgrading of our schools.”
The
mayor said that the new program allots 100.000 euros for the
excavations of test water wells for
irrigation and 62.772 for school upgrading and repairing.
Included in the
program is 30.000 euros for the construction of the long-overdue pedestrian
bridge along the Gournes
Bridge.
“However, it may
not even cost that much, since we are looking into the possibility of
purchasing and installing an Army surplus pre-constructed foot bridge
suitable for this purpose,” the mayor said. “Not only would it be more
economical, but it could be implemented much more quickly than constructing
one.”
As a temporary
solution to the dangers of pedestrians crossing the bridge, as pointed out
in the October, 2007 edition of The
Khronicles, an alternate route along the royal strata
is expected to be completed
soon.
“Unfortunately,
very little has been done so far,” Vice-mayor Yiorgos Merambeliotakis
admitted, “but by April the demos’ bulldozer is expected to have finished
clearing the way down to the river. Then we will asphalt the path, and add
the steps needed to reach the road, which will finish it off.”
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Gournes pedestrian bridge is in the works
On clean-up
projects, Mr. Merambeliotakis explained the township can hire people twice a
year, once on an eight-month contractual basis, which takes us through the
tourist season, and once on a two-month basis.
“We expect the
two-month people to be hired this month,” he said. “Basically now we barely
have enough in the sanitation crew to cover our daily needs. But once the
new crews are hired, we will clean-up all those awful posters littering the
walls of our municipalities and post highly visible signs around town as to
where posting will be legally accepted – then we will deal with those that
break the law.”
Mr.
Merambeliotakis said the
construction of the on-off ramps to connect Vathiano Kambo with the national
road, which began about two months ago, is expected to be completed before
the new tourist season begins.
“Once in
operation, these ramps will provide our citizens with an easy and safe
access to the national road,” he explained. “All those trucks carrying
gravel and stone will be able to travel on the parallel road all the way
from the quarry to the national highway without congesting our main road.
Also traffic accidents and road stress will be greatly reduced.”
Other items
prominent on the technical program listed under general works for the
township, are 50.000 euros for a study for reconstruction and improvement of
the Gouves shoreline front; 50.000 for an
anti-flood protection study; 50.000 for expansion of public lighting, and
many others, including numerous works planned for all the individual local
villages.
While
the new technical program is an ambitious project, Mayor Nikolakakis
emphasized that all the funding is not in the town coffers, and much of it
will have to be realized from prefecture, district, state and EU sources.
“I
expect, and will be happy, if we can accomplish 30 percent of the items in
this technical program,” he said.
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