Paxos: Request to Minister of Interior for ‘divorce’ from Corfu Cleansing Services
Paxos
31 Jan 2018
/ 12:23
‘We do not wish to be an extra burden on Corfu or to have to deal again with the waste accumulation problem we have at present,’ stated Paxos Mayor, Spiros Vlahopoulos, at his meeting with the Minister of the Interior, Panayotis Skourletis, and the General Secretary for Solid Waste Management, Evgenios Capetanios.
The meeting took place at the Ministry of the Interior earlier this week, with the Deputy Mayor of Paxos, Giorgos Lichnos and Corfu MP Constantinos Pavlidis also present.
At the meeting, a number of issues of concern to Paxos were discussed, such as compensation for extreme weather conditions, the Anti-Paxos water supply system and the Municipality’s personnel. However, the issue of waste management was the main point of discussion, since Paxos has accumulated 600 tons of waste over the past 8 months and has not yet been able to transport even one container to Corfu. So, the Mayor stressed, Paxos cannot be served by the Corfu waste-management system for a number of reasons which have already been presented to the Ministry. He asked for a way for the island to disengage itself from Corfu Cleansing Services, so that same phenomena are not repeated in the future. However, the General Secretary for Solid Waste Management referred to the Regional Waste Management Plan (PESDA) as an ‘obstacle’ which cannot be overcome.
The matter of support for the Municipality was also discussed, in order to carry out repairs to damage caused by extreme weather phenomena.
The Minister assured them that he would look into their request for support for damage repairs. Mr. Skourletis also talked extensively about the current review of the institutional framework for local authorities, as regards supporting local authorities with specialized scientific personnel.
Finally, the new funding instruments were presented, which will be implemented immediately and will provide simple procedures for targeted actions - amongst others the provision of construction machinery, the building of playgrounds, water-supply and drainage works, agricultural-road building and the construction of municipal buildings.
At the meeting, a number of issues of concern to Paxos were discussed, such as compensation for extreme weather conditions, the Anti-Paxos water supply system and the Municipality’s personnel. However, the issue of waste management was the main point of discussion, since Paxos has accumulated 600 tons of waste over the past 8 months and has not yet been able to transport even one container to Corfu. So, the Mayor stressed, Paxos cannot be served by the Corfu waste-management system for a number of reasons which have already been presented to the Ministry. He asked for a way for the island to disengage itself from Corfu Cleansing Services, so that same phenomena are not repeated in the future. However, the General Secretary for Solid Waste Management referred to the Regional Waste Management Plan (PESDA) as an ‘obstacle’ which cannot be overcome.
The matter of support for the Municipality was also discussed, in order to carry out repairs to damage caused by extreme weather phenomena.
The Minister assured them that he would look into their request for support for damage repairs. Mr. Skourletis also talked extensively about the current review of the institutional framework for local authorities, as regards supporting local authorities with specialized scientific personnel.
Finally, the new funding instruments were presented, which will be implemented immediately and will provide simple procedures for targeted actions - amongst others the provision of construction machinery, the building of playgrounds, water-supply and drainage works, agricultural-road building and the construction of municipal buildings.
