Πέμπτη 28.03.2024 ΚΕΡΚΥΡΑ

Central Corfu Municipality’s budget and technical programme for 2022 approved

Municipal Council
04 Μαρτίου 2022 / 17:22

CORFU. Criticism for the low absorption of funded projects.

Central Corfu Municipality’s €99,428,174 draft budget for 2022 was approved on Thursday night at the Municipal Council’s meeting.
 
Deputy Mayor for Finance Giorgos Pantelios, who proposed this budget, spoke of a realistic budget that maintains its social aspect. He said that, through this money, the Municipality will cover the needs that it is obligated to - not only those concerning buildings and roads, but also culture, tourism, education, social policy, as well as public services and their operation. “All of these have been included in the 2022 budget,” he said.
 
However, during the discussion on the budget, there was criticism from the opposition parties about the degree of absorption of funding based on what was included in last year's budget. The leader of the ‘Kerkyra na Zis’ party Yiannis Trepeklis pointed out that last year's budget was not right and only 8% of the projects had been absorbed.
 
As Mr. Pantelios said, both the institutional framework that is tight and the Municipality’s lack of staff in economists and engineers delay the projects.
 
 
Approved by a majority
 
Before that, Deputy Mayor for Technical Works Nikos Kalogeros made a presentation of this year’s programming and a vote was taken on the technical program.
 
The vote on the technical program was preceded by the Deputy Mayor of Technical Services Nikos Kalogeros, who made a presentation of the programming for the current year and a vote was taken on the technical programme.
 
The technical programme was finally approved by a majority with the positive votes of Meropi Ydraiou and Spyros Neratzis’ parties. Mr. Trepeklis’ party voted ‘present’, while Mr. Sarlis, Mr. Kaloudis, Mr. Poulis, as well as the two independent Councillors Angela Rigga and Spyros Riggas abstained. The parties ‘Ekkinisi’, ‘LASY’, ‘Kerkyra 180’ and ‘Kerkyraiki Symmahia’ voted against it.
 
 
Criticism
 
Giorgos Karydis (Kerkyraiki Symmahia), during his presentation, focused on the fact that no consultation with the local councils had taken place regarding their needs and said that this is the reason why they did not take part in the meeting.
 
‘Ekkinisi’ and ‘LASY’ pointed out that the drafting of the technical programme was based on the political guidelines given on how to allocate funds. Maria Dri (Kerkyra 180), on the other hand, criticised both the fact that many interventions, such as the strengthening of civil protection and school infrastructure, were not included and the low absorption rates of funded programmes for various projects.