Three “medicines” for the Thessalian plain

A few hundred pages with short-term and medium-long-term interventions, schedules that are judged as “urgent” and others that reach or even exceed 2030, as well as cost estimates, Maximos received from the Dutch HVA International, which undertook the reconstruction and flood protection masterplan of Thessaly. The government now has a massive road map on its hands – a management and inter-ministerial coordination challenge, sources admit.

The delivery of the plan by the experts for the Thessalian plain destroyed by the bad weather “Daniel” is now followed by the processing of the proposals as well as each expenditure separately by each ministry, given that funding is an important issue. Also in the closed meeting led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis with the management of the company and its partners in Maximos, the ministers and deputy ministers responsible for the problems of Thessaly participated, such as Christos Staikouras and Nikos Tachiaos (Infrastructure), Lefteris Avgenakis (Agricultural Development), Theodoros Skylakakis (Environment and Energy), Theodoros Livanios (Interior), Vassilis Kikilias and Christos Triandopoulos (Climate Crisis).

Dutch HVA officials are talking about “workable solutions” when it comes to the armoring of Thessaly, and the masterplan is reportedly divided into three main axes. Firstly, the small or larger technical projects with their reinforcement or new constructions, such as embankments and retention ditches, dams, widening of riverbeds, etc. Secondly, everything to do with water, i.e. dealing with water scarcity (hence the importance of dams), more efficient irrigation as well as the unified management of water resources. Third, agricultural production and animal husbandry as the most severely affected sectors of the economy.

When it comes to flood management, the Dutch company’s researchers point to the importance of adopting a three-point protocol – levels of security: “prevention, multidisciplinary governance and improved early warning and crisis management”.

For the first level of security, as the information says, specific actions, mild and more drastic, were considered: from educational actions to the creation of organized evacuation zones in case of flooding and the activation of pre-agreed response and early warning protocols.

According to the same sources, the masterplan examines each area separately – from Karditsa and Larissa to Lake Karla – but with “connected” plans between them: “We are talking about a long chain of interventions so that there is finally a single solution”.

First discussions on points – proposals of the experts are expected at the double meeting led by Mitsotakis in Maximos on March 11 with both the Thessalian producers and the institutional bodies, while after the elaboration of the proposals by the ministries there will follow a consultation with the co-authors of Thessaly ( Region, municipalities, etc.).