Construction of marina is nearing completion, but what about faulty work causing flooding in Spilia?
CORFU. The Regional Authority has identified the source of the water ingress, but repairs had not yet been included in the contract as of August – Corfu Port Authority expects the marina to be completed by the end of 2026 – Lamda Marinas has expressed interest in operating it, but no award has yet been made in the separate tender.
According to Corfu Port Authority (OLKE), the Spilia marina is on track for completion by the end of 2026. For local residents, however, the key question lies just a few metres outside the port: what will happen to the longstanding construction fault that causes the neighbourhood to flood during heavy autumn rains?
The problem was not caused by the construction of the marina, nor does it concern water entering the marina’s facilities. It pre-dates the project. However, addressing it was incorporated into the same project in order to secure funding for the remedial work alongside construction of the marina.
That is why the project’s official description explicitly includes the “remediation of the discharge of Spilia’s combined sewer pipes into the port basin”.
This provision takes on particular significance now that OLKE CEO Dimitris Apergis has said the marina is expected to be handed over by the end of 2026.
The same date, 31 December, is also the new contractual deadline for completion of the project following the extension (Note: the seventh, in succession!) approved by the Ionian Islands Regional Authority on 4 August.
The project is nearing completion – but has the work begun?
This is where the crux of the matter lies. Addressing the Spilia problem is not some future, standalone promise. It is already included in the scope of the project that is supposed to be completed in December.
However, the available information does not indicate that the specific work has already been carried out, nor is there any published timetable setting out when it will begin and when it will be completed.
This is also significant from a contractual standpoint. Since addressing the discharge of the combined sewer pipes forms part of the approved scope of the project, completion of the marina and completion of the project as a whole are not necessarily one and the same thing.
And afterwards, who will take over the marina?
The second question concerns what happens next. The Spilia marina is intended to be granted to a private operator under a 25-year sub-concession covering its operation, management and exploitation.
The process is separate from the 40-year sub-concession for the Mega Yacht Marina at the western end of the New Port, which has already been awarded to Lamda Corfu Marina.
Lamda Marinas has also expressed interest in Spilia. However, there is no indication to date that the tender has been awarded to the company.
This raises another reasonable question: will both the marina and the neighbourhood’s longstanding flood-prevention issue be completed with public funding, only for operation of the marina to subsequently be handed over to Lamda Marinas or another private operator?
