Ministry calls a halt to all
construction in scorched areas - forestry on land plots in Greece burnt in fires of 2005 and 2007 could be rezoned in perpetuity
Ministry calls a halt to all
construction in scorched areas - forestry on land plots in Greece burnt in fires of 2005 and 2007 could be rezoned in perpetuity
A new draft law announced by Environment,
Energy and Climate
Change Minister Tina Birbili suspends
all construction activity on
burned forestland in Attica and
other parts of the country until
authorities draw up comprehensive
forest maps.
The bill, announced on October
26, is due to be submitted to Parliament
next week after community
consultation
and also foresees the creation of
a special state agency to undertake
the demolition of illegally
built homes on burned forestland
as well as the imposition of stiff
fines on offenders.
However, it
does not say what will happen to
homes illegally built before the
fires. Essentially, the bill proposes
the abolition of a reform introduced
in 2003 by former Agriculture
Minister Giorgos Drys,
under PASOK’s previous administration,
which dictated that at
least a quarter of any given piece
of land had to be covered by trees
for it to be considered forestland
and merit protection. Birbili’s
bill seeks to reinstate the status
quo which existed prior to Drys’s
intervention, when only 15 percent
of a piece of land needed to
be covered in trees for it be characterized
as forestland.
The new bill foresees the suspension
of all construction in areas
of Attica and another 18
municipalities and communities
affected by forest fires. There
will be a ban imposed on the issuance
of all construction licenses,
with the exception of repairs
to homes and public buildings
destroyed in fires.
A bold provision in Birbili’s
proposed reform is the creation
of a demolition agency that
would be overseen by the new
ministry’s environmental inspectors
and would have the
responsibility of locating and
knocking down buildings illegally
set up on burned forestland.
The work of the demolition
agency is to be backed by the Hellenic
Mapping and Cadastral Organization
(HEMCO), set up in
1986 under the now defunct Environment,
Physical Planning
and Public Works Ministry. According
to sources, within the
next two months, HEMCO is
due to start operating a sophisticated
system of monitoring
forestland on the outskirts of Attica
with the aim of reporting
back to authorities the appearance
of every new structure outside
the town plan.
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