Promised funding for DEYAK never came

Water is offered only to those who are no longer thirsty! It resembles the policy of banks when it comes to granting loans. At any rate, this seems to be the approach taken by the Ministry of Environment, at least regarding the emergency funding for the urgent repair of part of the outdated and perforated central water supply network. Otherwise, there's no explaining why the much talked about funding—which caused such a stir—never made it to Corfu. As a result, the valuable downtime of the winter months was lost, because no one can imagine opening contractor trenches in the middle of summer to fix the pipeline from the south to the Analipsi pumping station, which supplies the town with water.

It seems, however, that things are even worse and not merely seasonal. Simply put, according to Mayor Poulimenos, the promised funding never arrived because it was contingent on DIADΕYAK's administrative capacity—which, frankly, doesn’t exist! The company should be considered bankrupt.

And yet, upon receiving written notice from the Ministry expressing its intent to provide emergency funding, the company's services hurried to prepare a technical study to justify the allocation of funds for the necessary intervention on the damaged pipeline. But alas, that wasn’t enough.

And so we head into the summer months with the certainty that the rainy winter has replenished the aquifer—but, as has been repeatedly mentioned, that means little when half the water is lost on its way to the pumps and taps of Corfiots and visitors alike.

And to think that nearly a year has passed, full of meetings and cries of desperation over the water supply sufficiency of a tourist destination that proudly claims to attract four million tourists.

GIORGOS KATSAITIS