As the number of illegal immigrants camping at the port of Patras continues to rise, the Interior Ministry on Saturday announced the creation of a reception center not far from the harbor to accommodate migrants as their asylum requests are being processed.

“This is the first phase of the solution to a longstanding problem affecting Patras,” a ministry statement said, referring to the makeshift camp at the port, occupied by hundreds of migrants seeking to board ferries to Western Europe. The center is to be built on a 4-hectare plot near Rio, 15 kilometers from Patras, and will hold 1,000 migrants, the ministry said without specifying when the facility would open.

Meanwhile the flow of migrants entering Greece via Turkey has not abated. A total of 88 immigrants were stopped on Samos on the weekend and 21 on Farmakonisi.