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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Cash vs culture: Tourism projects hit hard in Greece

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New York property developer Mike Angeliades has wanted to build a golf resort in his native Greece for quarter of a century. But just when the plan seemed within reach, the past caught up with him.


Three years ago Angeliades won a state-sanctioned competition to develop a beachfront property on Rhodes, the Aegean island he left as a teenager. Then last year the authorities dropped a bombshell.


“The then culture minister declared the whole area an archaeological site,” he said.


Now the project to invest up to 400 million euros ($470 million) is stalled. “We are still waiting for an answer from the ministry on what they plan to do.”


Angeliades, who emigrated to the United States in 1960, is among a number of foreign investors ready to plough large sums into a country just emerging from economic depression, only to wonder if they’re really welcome.


Conflicts between development and conservation affect many countries.


But in Greece concerns for the environment and antiquities are combining with labyrinthine laws, zealous officialdom and hostile political ideology to create hurdles that even investors familiar with the country cannot understand.


Greece’s recovery depends largely on foreign investment.


Seven years ago it embarked on a privatisation programme to raise 50 billion euros for the near-bankrupt state.


To date it has brought in just 4.4 billion, and government critics say excessive red-tape is a major reason for the dismal performance.


For frustrated developers, the suspicion is that Greece is biting the hand that feeds it.


But many Greeks feel bound to protect their country’s 3,500 year-old cultural heritage and some of Europe’s most beautiful coastline from excess development, however pressing the need to raise cash.


“There are some people who think that antiquities are a pile of rocks and they say ‘oh well, we already have enough of them’,” said Thodoris Dritsas, a member of parliament for the ruling leftist Syriza party. “Syriza lawmakers don’t share that view,” he said.


Publicly, the Greek state says it is actively pursuing investments.


But the track record seems to tell a different story sometimes, especially in the case of a waterfront property that was once the site of Athens airport.


For the past 16 years the old Hellenikon terminals have stood abandoned on a sprawling wasteland three times the size of Monaco, along with derelict water sport venues used for the Athens 2004 Olympics.


Backed by Chinese and Gulf investors, Greek developer Lamda came up with an 8 billion euro plan to build one of Europe’s biggest coastal resorts, covering 1,532 acres.


The project was to be a game-changer for Greece, bringing in hundreds of thousands of tourists and creating 75,000 jobs in a country where unemployment is still over 20 per cent.


Syriza strongly objected to granting a 99-year lease on the state-owned site while it was in opposition, keen to turn the area into a public park.


Then after winning power in 2015, it was forced to relent on its ideological rejection of privatisation and accepted the development under a third international bailout deal for Greece.


But the problems weren’t over.


Greek authorities delayed decisions on whether part of the old airport buildings should be classified as historic, and on the course of action should antiquities be found.


Then the forestry department declared 3.7 hectares of eucalyptus, cypress and olive trees on the estate as protected woodland.


The Lamda consortium, which includes Chinese conglomerate Fosun and Abu Dhabi-based developer Eagle Hills, had hoped to start work by June.


However, the archaeological and forestry issues have delayed the start of a licensing process, a spokesman for Lamda said.


The process is estimated to take about nine months, Lamda CEO Odisseas Athanassiou said, so now the firm cannot set foot on the plot before April next year.


Since 2011, privatisation generally has made slow progress under a variety of centre-left, centre-right and technocrat-led governments.— Reuters


Angeliki Koutantou


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