Back to the Centre!

The ministry of the Environment is preparing incentives for the re-habitation of the centre, in an attempt to remove the ghettos that affect the image of the city.

The plan is expected to be carried out in collaboration with the ministry of Finance and will include complete proposals similar to the Gerani area, close to Omonia, where there is an attempt to increase housing, which is at a rate lower than 5% today.

The measures aim at the growth and revitalization of degraded areas of the centre, which now attract the interest of the world due to frequent outbreaks of violence and delinquency.

As minister Tina Birbili announced yesterday in Parliament, the objective is to retain or claim back the owners in deprived areas, attract residents and tenants of middle-income classes and change from the existing uses into residential use.

The new philosophy of the ministry will be reflected in the new regulatory plan for Athens and Thessaloniki, which will be presented within the first trimester of 2011 and in which a residence is being constructed to co-exist with industrial activity starting from the area of Elaionas.

In the developing area of the centre where the stadium of Panathinaikos will be built, the ministry of the Environment is preparing to admit industrial solutions of a low annoyance level with residences, emphasizing  innovation by attracting relevant companies.

Ms Birbili mentioned once more the effort of her ministry to modernize urban planning legislation by drafting a green General Building Rule (GOK), the updating of the building code and the modification of the issuance of building permits, in order to break the abscess of «the guilty State-Citizen relationship, and restore the scientific role of the engineers».

According to the minister «they will be linked with new tools which will be institutionalized, in order to create more unstructured regions in the solid parts of the city and raise awareness towards another approach to the creation of buildings»