With emphasis on accelerating infrastructure projects in the Evros region and strengthening funding mechanisms for the area, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited flood-affected zones, the Kipoi Border Station, and agricultural areas in Feres on Wednesday, February 25, connecting damage restoration with a broader resilience plan for the region.
Mitsotakis: €30 million for Evros “Integrated Territorial Investment”
The focus of his intervention was the need to implement projects that will ensure adequate water resources for irrigation, against the backdrop of the agreement with Bulgaria for guaranteed water quantities over a four-year horizon. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis noted that the government’s priority is to advance necessary infrastructure so the region won’t be completely dependent on river flows during summer months. In this context, he announced additional funding of €10 million for the Evros Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI), bringing the total budget to €30 million. As he stated, these funds will enable interventions of both immediate and medium-term nature in a region that has faced fires, floods, drought, and zoonotic diseases in recent years.
“Our job now is to build the infrastructure projects, not regarding flood protection – that’s a different level issue – but to ensure we’ll at least have water in summer and won’t be completely dependent on river flows and our friends’ wishes. We need to be independent. We have four years to complete these projects, we’ve discussed them, they’ve been discussed for decades, I think now it’s time to do them. We, Mr. Regional Governor, will add another 10 million, bringing it to 30 million for the Evros Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI), so we can have some funding tools to intervene both immediately and more medium-term” declared Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
During his visit to the affected areas of northern Evros, Kyriakos Mitsotakis was briefed on the situation by Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Regional Governor Christodoulos Topsidis and the mayors of Soufli, Didymoteicho, and Orestiada, while reiterating that damage restoration will proceed with the assistance of the relevant ministry.
