“Greek social movements against the plunder of the public property communicate their targets internationally and ask for any kind of support to their trials in order to stop the memorandum disaster.
STRUGGLE COMMITTEE FOR THE METROPOLITAN PARK IN HELLINIKON
THE STRUGGLE AGAINST THE PLUNDER OF HELLINIKON CONTINUES
WE REJECT THE SO CALLED INVESTMENT IN HELLINIKON
WE PROPOSE AN ALTERNATIVE ECOLOGICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL PROJECT
The so-called “investment” in Hellinikon amounts to plunder of a public area of 6,205,677m2 representing huge ecological and economic value, while riddled with legal and constitutional complexities. The Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) – owner of the area – and the members of Greek Parliament are in any case willing to by-pass the national and european law in
order to serve the interests of the “investor”.
FOSTER PLAN
A private city of 27,000 inhabitants and 3-3,6 million m2 floor space will be established in Hellinikon
A PRIVATE CITY OF 27,000 INHABITANTS AND 3-3,6 MILLION m2 FLOOR SPACE WILL BE ESTABLISHED IN HELLINIKON
Lamda Development is acquiring in Hellinikon Surface Rights for 99(!) years and 30% of full ownership and possession. Ιn fact, it is scandalously appropriating the entire public property.
According to the Foster plan, which accompanies the agreement, a new introspective city will be built for 27,000 inhabitants with a total built surface area of some 3-3.6 mil. m2. Uses include various types of housing, tourist accommodation, casino and related uses, office buildings, retail shops and huge malls, a private university, and other educational, cultural and sports buildings.
This introvert city isolates all inhabitants living there, offering all necessary services. It also functions as a competitor to neighboring commercial undertakings as it creates new extensive commercial zones, office buildings etc. It is a private city financed by the Greek public sector for municipal services and common functions.
DISASTROUS ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND ECOLOGICAL IMPACT ON ATTICA. CONCESSION OF AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
In the ecologically stressed Attica Basin in which the battle against climate change prohibits any new building activity inside the coastal and neighboring municipalities, where there is already a glut of unoccupied real estate, this so-called investment is a disastrous ecological bomb that will have a disastrous impact on the local economy and the economy of the wider metropolitan region.
The new private city will draw consumers away from the enterprises – already struggling with the crisis – of the neighboring municipalities and the wider district, delivering them a significant new blow. The new office buildings, the malls and other shops across the Vouliagmenis Avenue and the crowd of new houses of the Foster plan will lead the present real estate market to chronic decline and the relevant enterprises to bankruptcy. The new jobs, badly paid and lacking proper insurance, will be created on the ruins of the small and medium trade, tourist and building enterprises, hired labour, self-employment and complementary renting incomes. A huge building site will function for decades, creating a continuous worsening of the city functions as well as in the tourist sector.
It is extremely worrying that for the first time an archaeological site is conceded to private business. The archaeological service will not be able to continue its work and, what is worse, the construction of millions of square meters of built area will irreversibly prevent archaeological investigation of the ancient municipalities of Alimos, Aexoni and Evonymon.
FIRE-SALE PRICE
The plundering of Hellinikon and a huge part of Greek public assets is currently underway in the name of paying off the public debt, which, according to the conclusion of the relevant commission of the Hellenic Parliament, is “illegal, abusive, repulsive and shameful”. In any case, the supposed 321 billion euro public debt comprises a bottomless pit, to which the tiny amount raised from selling the Hellinikon area will add nothing.
According to the Technical Chamber’s expert opinion, the investment value of Hellinikon is 3 billion euro. According to two recent expert opinions assigned by attorney G. Dragatsis, the real value is four times the price that will be paid by Lamda Development (first case), while the price of 576 million euro at current value, which the investing company will have to pay, is at least 2.5 times less than the present value of the site (second case).
In any case, this low price will serve to pay off only a tiny part of the national debt. Yet the Greek State will have to pay 134 million euro in order to transfer the public services already housed in the area. The state will also undertake the cost of creating an underground street (Poseidon Avenue) and – from the first day of the new city – that of the maintenance of the 200 hectare park, of the common urban projects and infrastructure, and of the welfare buildings and services, establishing a new administrative service. The state also concedes the Olympic Sailing Center of Agios Kosmas and other Olympic installations of major economic value.
The so-called “investment” will not be financed by the “investors” funds but by money borrowed from the banks, which, on the other hand, refuse to lend to small and medium-size businesses.
CONDITIONS PRECEDENT
The buyer is protected by 11 conditions precedent (conditions that, if not fulfilled, will block the investment) and can ask for compensation in the event that some or any of them are not met: validation of the agreement by the Hellenic Parliament, approval of the Integrated Development Plan by Presidential Decree, validation of the Joint Ministerial Decision regarding the approval of urban plans, transfer of rights in rem to the company, pursuant to the Integrated Development Plan, installation of a casino and enactment of a general legal frame for the operating license, issuance of decisions by the Greek Supreme Court (which would finally reject invalidation demands), not issuing an irrevocable judicial decision resulting to diminishing the area to be built by more than 5%.
WE PROPOSE AN ALTERNATIVE PLAN FOR THE PRODUCTIVE REORGANIZATION OF THE COASTAL ZONE AND THE ECOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL UPGRADE OF ATTICA
Hellenico can become a metropolitan park without even one m2 of new buildings, with the following component parts:
– Green spaces conveying the Attica flora to distinct places of planting with an ecological, aesthetic and scientific value. Urban fields.
– An archaeological park which will showcase present antiquities of the ancient municipalities Alimos, Aexoni and Evonymos and continuing excavations in large parts of the area.
– Modern Culture Center with installations for artists and similar professions and art festivals throughout the year.
– Sports Center and Marine Research Center
Finally, in Hellinikon it will be possible to create a Metropolitan Park as an important pole for the environment, culture and sports, open to the citizens of Attica and foreign visitors. A pole of attraction for an alternative nature-loving/cultural tourism, operating throughout the year and in collaboration with the monuments of nature and culture produced or promoted, for example, by the new Opera House and National Library of the Niarchos Foundation through to the Temple of Poseidon in Sounion and the old French Mining Company in Lavrion. A pole activating the declining services and unsold real estate in the neighboring municipalities and the seaside front from the Peace and Friendship Stadium at Faliro through to Lavrion. The metropolitan park thus created will contribute to the productive/social reorganization of Attica (which accounts for almost half the population of Greece), and the ecological upgrade and prosperity of its citizens.
This plan can be implemented in stages and can be financed easily through the rational exploitation of the Olympic Sailing Center of Agios Kosmas and a part of the cost (134 mil. Euro) the state would pay to move services now housed in the Hellinikon area in the event that the Lamda Development plan were to be implemented.
Potential for alternative planning:
existing buildings, Olympic sports
installations, Olympic Sailing Sports
center immediately available for the
alternative plan:
Metropolitan Green Park as an
important environmental, cultural,
and sports hub, open to all residents
and visitors of Attica.
- LEGEND
- Exclusively green area
- Green area >50%
- Green area <50%
- entrance
- main pedestrian path
- metro station
- tram station
- parking ”
