Corfu: A mega investment of 270 million that will transform the island

The building of a floating island like in Dubai is being discussed for Corfu, however the project is at an early stage.

The plan envisages the creation of a mooring marina for mega yachts, while the construction will be connected to the beach with a specially designed bridge. In particular, it is an investment of more than 270 million euros for the creation of a marina with a capacity of 105 berths for mega yachts (up to 80 meters) in southern Corfu.

With the dialogue already open, many thoughts are expressed for or against the idea.

There are fanatical supporters, but also fanatical opponents of such plans. The tourist development and the investments that will be made are the main arguments of the supporters of the idea to build the artificial island. This will obviously create new jobs. On the other hand, there is the argument that Corfu is both touristically developed and endowed with infinite natural beauty, therefore it may not need such ideas. It also underlines the opinion that Dubai naturally has nothing to show off, at least as much as Corfu, so it needs such exaggerations.

The mayor of southern Corfu, Costas Lessis, spoke to public broadcaster ERT3, stressing that “this is an area that has not been environmentally burdened by projects for the tourist development of the island. We as a municipality, when we were informed, became part of the proposal, which has been submitted to the Ministry of Development to be financed by the recovery fund, we set and are setting certain conditions. The first condition is that the local community must have a say, the institutions of our country must express their opinion in a documented way. I, as mayor, have put forward five main reasons that we must consider for this investment.

First of all, will there be an environmental burden with the construction of such a project that has economic objectives? And what will that be? Secondly, the traffic load, the infrastructure works, which have to be done to support such a project, who will bear them?

They say three port projects will be upgraded. Until today, these three ports belong to the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund, our first basic principle of the upgrade is that these ports must come under the responsibility of the municipality. What countervailing benefits will the municipality have with this investment?

A land zone will be purchased to be able to support the marine infrastructure that the company proposes to build. So they will get special building conditions. The area must be urbanized more widely so that the citizens also have compensatory benefits”, says Kostas Lessis.