Why are projects in Corfu and Ionian Islands failing to move forward?

"The Balkans produce more history than they can consume." The phrase is commonly attributed to Winston Churchill, even if historians continue to debate its exact wording. In Corfu and the Ionian Islands, it could acquire a modern variation: we produce more announcements of public works projects than we are capable of delivering.

Every year, new roads, bypasses, port projects, urban regeneration schemes, flood-control works, water infrastructure projects, cultural restoration initiatives, and tourism facilities are announced. These presentations come complete with renderings, timelines, and commitments. The public hears about "shovel-ready projects," "secured funding," and the "imminent start of construction." A few years later, the very same projects reappear as fresh announcements, featuring different political protagonists but carrying the same promise: "this time, we're getting started."

The problem is not a lack of money. Never before have so many resources been available through EU cohesion funds, the Recovery and Resilience Facility, and national development programmes. Nor is there any shortage of needs. The problem lies somewhere between political will and the actual capacity to deliver projects. Studies that are never completed, permits that take years to obtain, understaffed public services, overlapping jurisdictions, legal appeals, design revisions, and endless extensions all combine to create a system that produces delays more consistently than it produces infrastructure.

There is, however, a deeper cause. Within the local political culture, announcing a project is believed to generate immediate political benefits. Completing it, by contrast, requires years of persistent administrative work, often without a comparable political reward. As a result, the system rewards announcements more than delivery.

The consequences are familiar: the bypass discussed for decades, water infrastructure that remains inadequate, restoration projects that are continually postponed, and port improvements that become entangled in yet another round of procedures. Corfu does not suffer from a lack of plans. It suffers from an overproduction of plans.

Perhaps, then, the real development challenge is not finding new projects to announce. It is making the decision to finally complete those that have already been promised. Because the Ionian Islands do not need another pledge. They need project delivery that lasts longer than the next press release.

GIORGOS KATSAITIS