The once-lovely Saronic island of Aegina drowns in overdevelopment
Locals say that the light on Aegina is what makes it special and that’s why they wouldn’t live anywhere else. When they want to compliment someone, they say he has a bit of «Aegina’s light.» Perhaps it’s because of the warmth of the red clay soil, or the blue-green depths surrounding the island, or perhaps its just geography. Its beauty might be due to the light, but it is a beauty that is becoming more and more fragile. The island is experiencing a construction boom, with locals building and Athenians buying. Areas once famous for their excellent fishing, their view and fresh air are being transformed into suburbs of maisonettes. Behind the old districts of Perdika, Marathon or Vathi, new, concrete-built settlements of the same name are springing up without any regard for the environment, aesthetics or even zoning regulations. All this is going on under the nose of the town planning authorities and a municipality that has failed to set up the appropriate infrastructure. Proximity to the port of Piraeus (just 17 nautical miles) has made access by sea fast and easy. Traveling times between settlements on the island have become shorter and the quality of life is certainly an improvement on Athens. These benefits are enthusiastically cited by realtors who discovered the island in the wake of the stock market boom of a few years ago. «Up until 2000 the island was in a slump,» said a realtor who has been working on Aegina for the past five years. «Since I came here, property prices have tripled and quadrupled.» He explained that large landholdings that could not be divided up as they were outside town plan limits had created a problem for the property market. «This is Aegina. You can’t ask for the same prices as on cosmopolitan islands like Hydra or Spetses. Most of the people looking to buy property here are from lower income groups,» he said. Those who want to divide Aegina into cheap plots cite the need to extend town plans and draft zoning studies, establishing housing zones and environmental protection zones so that the island can become a new Athenian suburb, but a cheap one. The island suffers from a serious water shortage, has no waste treatment plant and no garbage dump. Rubbish is compacted and shipped to Athens. And until the new port of Leondi, now under construction, is completed, connections to the rest of the island remain difficult. The problems on the island are similar to many other parts of Greece. Private initiative knows no bounds and the state is inactive. Groups of maisonettes on large land holdings and waste disposal problems are two factors that pose major threats to this small Saronic island. Aegina might be on its way to becoming a cheaper version of a northern greenbelt suburb of Athens, but if these problems are not solved, it will look more like Porto Rafti, a densely populated seaside suburb that provides the illusion of being «out of town.» The average number of building permits issued every month has risen from 16.8 in 1999 to 25.5 in 2005. However, one building permit might correspond to 10 or 20 households, since most are for housing complexes. A large number of residents are semi-permanent (weekend commuting lasts until November); many of them look forward to moving there permanently. Only a few, albeit active, islanders hope that Aegina might not devolve into a smaller version of Athens. Giorgos Bogris, a medical doctor, is also the editor and publisher of the twice-yearly journal Aeginaia. Last year, along with two community groups – Friends of Aegina and Active Citizens of Aegina – he held a conference on an issue – the lack of observance of the law – that pitted him against civil engineers and even some of his own friends. «We know how long it takes for town plans to be drafted in Greece,» he said. «But until then, what should be done? Shouldn’t the town planning authorities impose fines on those who build illegally?» (1) This article appeared in the January issue of ECO, a Kathimerini supplement. All water supplies come from Attica As the island’s water table has been depleted, Aegina receives its water supplies by ship from Piraeus. During summer, when demand is higher, drinking water from the tankers is mixed with non-drinkable water from reservoirs. Apart from its own reservoirs, the municipality also leases private, though the criteria used is not known. What is certain is that the money spent on these leases amounts to a tidy sum for those who receive it. Meanwhile, the water pipes are constructed of asbestos. A supply pipe on the seabed seems to be the solution. The Citizens’ Group on Aegina’s Water Problems called an ad-hoc municipal council meeting that voted in favor of assigning the problem to the Athens Water and Sewerage Service (EYDAP), but the municipality never implemented the decision.
