Contracts for flood protection work in Corfu signed
flood protection
14 Jan 2022
/ 19:39
CORFU. The contract will be valid for a period of 12 months.
The Ionian Islands Regional Governor Rodi Kratsa signed the contracts with the contractors of the flood protection works, which concern the Corfu Regional Unit. The total budget of the three separate contracts (one for North, one for South and one for Central Corfu) is €1,278,000, i.e. €426,000 each.
At the press conference, which took place on Friday 14 January 2022 in Alykes Potamos, the importance of protecting the Ionian Islands against the severe weather caused by climate change was underlined. Also present at the press conference were the Deputy Regional Governors for Corfu, Infrastructure & Technical Works and Civil Protection Kostas Zorbas, Manolis Orphanoudakis and Nikos Miliotis.
The Ionian Islands Regional Governor Rodi Kratsa said that “We are now talking about a climate crisis, not a climate change, with extreme weather – such as heavy rainfall and floods, which occurred last time in our region – that needs serious work when it comes to prevention”.
“The first project, which is the contracts for flood protection works in all three Corfu Municipalities, is being announced for 2022 and concerns the safety and protection of the lives and property of our fellow citizens”, the Regional Governor pointed out.
She also added that “It turned out that extremely important for prevention is the clean-up work, which must be done soon. The contracts of these flood protection projects provide for clean-up work and improvement of the work already done. Clean-up work is a complex issue, but we are dealing with it both at a prevention and a repair level, as had happened before following the ‘Ballos’ storm and the floods.
We are trying very hard to respond to the climate crisis, having a budget of about €1.3 million for these flood protection works – the same as last year and almost double the budgets of the previous Regional Authority. It is clear that, thanks to the ‘Ballos’ storm, we gained experience, as not only important clean-up work had been carried out, but also major needs were revealed, since not much had been done in the last 40 years.”
Mrs. Kratsa concluded by saying that “We are starting in 2022 with responsibility, considering it our duty to offer a sense of security to our fellow citizens, with prevention works, as severe weather is unfortunately something we will have to deal with quite often.
Hopefully, we will soon announce the Strategic Scientific Special Studies Plan, the Master Plan, i.e. the master plan for the protection of each island in our Region, as on the one hand the climate crisis is becoming more and more intense, and on the other hand each of our islands has its own needs. We are here to carry out the necessary repair work, to strengthen the existing infrastructure, to make the necessary prevention works and, at the same time, to see what infrastructure projects should be done from now on in each of our islands”.
Manolis Orphanoudakis
The Deputy Regional Governor for Technical Works Manolis Orphanoudakis added that “Clean-up and flood protection works, storm drain pipes, maintenance and expansion of existing flood protection works, new ditches where needed, bridges and other technical works will be done.
The total budget is €1.3 million. The contract will be valid for a period of 12 months and I hope that it will be completed before the end of the contract.
The aim is to be able to repair damages in the road network, so that they can be added to the work that has been carried out so far and to the overall planning of the Region and the Civil Protection.”
Nikos Miliotis
The Deputy Regional Governor for Civil Protection Nikos Miliotis stated that “today's signing of the contracts in the three Municipalities is another step towards protection. It comes following a plan that has been created over the past two years with the aim of protecting the risk areas in the Ionian Islands.
At the press conference, which took place on Friday 14 January 2022 in Alykes Potamos, the importance of protecting the Ionian Islands against the severe weather caused by climate change was underlined. Also present at the press conference were the Deputy Regional Governors for Corfu, Infrastructure & Technical Works and Civil Protection Kostas Zorbas, Manolis Orphanoudakis and Nikos Miliotis.
The Ionian Islands Regional Governor Rodi Kratsa said that “We are now talking about a climate crisis, not a climate change, with extreme weather – such as heavy rainfall and floods, which occurred last time in our region – that needs serious work when it comes to prevention”.
“The first project, which is the contracts for flood protection works in all three Corfu Municipalities, is being announced for 2022 and concerns the safety and protection of the lives and property of our fellow citizens”, the Regional Governor pointed out.
She also added that “It turned out that extremely important for prevention is the clean-up work, which must be done soon. The contracts of these flood protection projects provide for clean-up work and improvement of the work already done. Clean-up work is a complex issue, but we are dealing with it both at a prevention and a repair level, as had happened before following the ‘Ballos’ storm and the floods.
We are trying very hard to respond to the climate crisis, having a budget of about €1.3 million for these flood protection works – the same as last year and almost double the budgets of the previous Regional Authority. It is clear that, thanks to the ‘Ballos’ storm, we gained experience, as not only important clean-up work had been carried out, but also major needs were revealed, since not much had been done in the last 40 years.”
Mrs. Kratsa concluded by saying that “We are starting in 2022 with responsibility, considering it our duty to offer a sense of security to our fellow citizens, with prevention works, as severe weather is unfortunately something we will have to deal with quite often.
Hopefully, we will soon announce the Strategic Scientific Special Studies Plan, the Master Plan, i.e. the master plan for the protection of each island in our Region, as on the one hand the climate crisis is becoming more and more intense, and on the other hand each of our islands has its own needs. We are here to carry out the necessary repair work, to strengthen the existing infrastructure, to make the necessary prevention works and, at the same time, to see what infrastructure projects should be done from now on in each of our islands”.
Manolis Orphanoudakis
The Deputy Regional Governor for Technical Works Manolis Orphanoudakis added that “Clean-up and flood protection works, storm drain pipes, maintenance and expansion of existing flood protection works, new ditches where needed, bridges and other technical works will be done.
The total budget is €1.3 million. The contract will be valid for a period of 12 months and I hope that it will be completed before the end of the contract.
The aim is to be able to repair damages in the road network, so that they can be added to the work that has been carried out so far and to the overall planning of the Region and the Civil Protection.”
Nikos Miliotis
The Deputy Regional Governor for Civil Protection Nikos Miliotis stated that “today's signing of the contracts in the three Municipalities is another step towards protection. It comes following a plan that has been created over the past two years with the aim of protecting the risk areas in the Ionian Islands.
Indeed the 'Ballos' storm on 14 October in Corfu showed the needs and the shortcomings. During this period, we have increased the appropriations for Corfu by 500% so that we have more than 150 works done and we already have three contracts, which will be reinforced by seeking new resources.The level of water had never been so high in the last sixty years. There were more than 245,000 litres of water per stremma. We are here and we are working with the body of first instance and gave it both the scientific data and the technical means to strengthen the flood protection on our island.”
