Kiato will likely be ‘part of Athens’ in 10 years’ time
Kiato, the second-biggest town in the prefecture of Corinth after Corinth itself, used to be overshadowed by Xylokastro and Loutraki, both long-established resorts. The new Proastiakos suburban railroad has given Kiato an opportunity to become a suburb of Athens, but some residents wonder whether that will be a good thing. Many people already used to commute to Athens via the Corinth station, says Angelos Tsouloufas, the mayor of Sykeonos, who meets us at the railway station: «Summer houses are starting to become permanent residences.» On Kleisthenes Street in the center of Kiato, the cafes are open and Panos Deliyiannis, a chemist and a former deputy mayor, recognizes us without ever having seen us before. «Yours were the only completely unfamiliar faces.» Just about everyone here knows everyone else, at least by sight. At this time and even earlier, the cafes are full, mainly with farmers who have finished work by 10.30 a.m. There is no secondary industry in Kiato anymore. The currant industry which used to provide work for much of the population has closed. Most residents are farmers or in the service industry. What has been the impact of the Proastiakos railway? «It’s great that it came but we need infrastructure. There’s already too much traffic congestion, the old national road [which goes through the town] is overloaded and has become dangerous to cross. It’s not just now that people have started turning summer houses into permanent residences; some people did that when the Attiki Odos opened. «I think Kiato has to decide what it wants to be, to find its identity. That’s why it’s a little bit of everything at the moment and all of it mediocre,» says Deliyiannis. «The project is good, but there were mistakes at the planning stage,» says Sotiris Moutikis, president of the Municipal Development, Culture and Sport Enterprise. «We held demonstrations, but that was just us. People here aren’t used to protest rallies.» In recent years, most of the seafront from Corinth to Xylokastro has become one continuous home construction site. Voha, once a highly productive expanse of vines, citrus and apricot trees, will now be producing «luxury seaside apartments,» according to the advertising boards. «All kinds of land uses have been crammed into this narrow coastal strip of Corinth,» says Takis Theodorakopoulos, architectural engineer and former deputy prefect. «There’s incredible building pressure, farms, tourism facilities, all lumped together, but the state doesn’t pay due attention. Corinth is essentially a continuation of the Athens conurbation, and should be included in the Athens town plan.» «There’s great demand for building plots,» Tsouloufas tells K, «so prices have spiked. We are considering expanding the town plan to balance the situation.» Despite the lack of plots, there are many new apartments on the seafront and in town. «There are lots of houses, around 3,000 of them unsold from Corinth to Kiato, says estate agent Christina Lada. «It was hoped that lots of people would come here because of the Proastiakos railway and Attiki Odos and prices are very high: from 2,800-3,000 euros per square meter on the seafront to 1,700-2,000 in town. In 10 years it will be part of Athens.» Cafes and fish tavernas alternate along Kiato’s seven kilometers of shoreline. «That’s why we’re here, because we can have a dip after work,» says Antonia, who has just finished work for the day. Next to the newly built apartments are some built decades earlier, with narrow balconies where elderly people sit on plastic chairs, watching the choppy sea. Below on Miaoulis Street are new cafes and clubs which attract both young people and legal action for playing loud music. «There used to be 10 big nightclubs and five bouzouki clubs, but the euro and constant policing put an end to that,» says Babis, a customer at the Tantra cafe. «And the music isn’t all that loud. Yesterday the police came at 11.30 p.m. Who’s asleep at that hour?» Some residents worry about the newcomers. «The Athenians who come have a colonialist mentality,» says Giorgos, 60, a native of Kiato whom we meet in Eleftheria Square outside City Hall. «They come here, buy a house and make demands, but don’t want to integrate.» Civil engineer and former mayor Angelos Papangelopoulos is proud of Kiato. «The tempo is completely different here. I have an office in Athens too, but I can’t bear to live far from the sea. The important thing is what personality Kiato will adopt. What we will it be – a nice suburb of Athens with its own personality or just a stop on the way to Patras? (1) This article first appeared in Kathimerini’s Sunday supplement K on August 5, 2007.
