Unlicensed buildings: Bulldozers to demolish 219 buildings on Rhodes

The 2021 contract for the demolition of arbitrary buildings on the seafront, beach, forests, forested and reforested areas of Rhodes “thawed” with the contractor of the project expected to start work soon. The €535,584 contract for the demolition of 219 buildings was signed on October 12, while last Monday the project supervisors were appointed by the Aegean Decentralized Administration.

Arbitrary buildings

Of the final demolition protocols to be executed, 135 are arbitrarily located on the coast, 54 in forests and 30 are urban. In fact, some of them have been pending for many years, even for two or three decades. In any case, the contractor of the specific project is obliged to complete the demolitions within 28 months, i.e. until the beginning of 2026.

However, as the architect and former president of the Dodecanese Technical Chamber, Mr. Iakovos Gryllis, reports to OT, “the list of the specific contract is small and does not include the large arbitrary constructions that have been added in recent years, especially due to the impunity during the pandemic and lockdowns”. It is noteworthy that the land office has issued more than 650 protocols for the demolition of arbitrary structures on the seafronts and beaches of the island.

Suspension decision

The decision to suspend the demolitions imposed in March 2021 by the government on all demolitions on seashores and beaches throughout the country, on the grounds of the economic loss of the illegals, “sparked” urban planning illegalities throughout Greece. The last extension granted expired in March 2023 and was not renewed after the government studied to crack down on illegal urban planning, initially focusing on Mykonos.

It is noteworthy that a 1.2 million euro contract that had been stopped due to successive ministerial decisions suspending demolitions had thawed in mid-June in Crete as well, when the Decentralized Administration of Crete began some demolitions initially in areas with limited tourist activity.

In all of Greece

The 400 demolition protocols of Crete, the 219 of Rhodes and thousands of others in the other Regions of the country, took 10 to 15 years to become definitively irrevocable. Thus, it has been observed that when the bulldozer finally arrives at the site to begin demolishing it often finds larger irregularities than those listed in the demolition protocol and can be demolished. For the rest of the arbitrariness, the process will have to start from scratch.

With regard to the multiplicity and division of responsibilities, which favors arbitrary constructions, at the end of September the conclusion of the special working group appointed by the General Secretary of Spatial Planning and Urban Environment, Mr. Efthymios Bakoyannis, was delivered to the Ministry of Environment and Energy, by updating the entire institutional framework for the suppression of building arbitrariness, simplifying and speeding up the procedures.

In their work, they have also gathered and consolidated the existing regulations regarding the repressive control of arbitrary construction and explicitly define the competent bodies and the terms of cooperation between them, so that one agency does not throw the “ball” of responsibilities to the other. However, according to information, the comments from the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are many, so currently, the Working Group is proceeding with the corrections.