A complex system of ordering our roads
I wonder if the next time we stumble on a pothole or gaping ditch on one of Athens’s poorly maintained roads, we will feel better knowing that the road in question – and the pothole too – belongs to the Public Works Ministry or the municipality through which it runs. In any case, the government has undertaken the serious and complex task of determining who is answerable for the upkeep of each road, not just in Attica but in all of Greece. An exasperated citizen may exclaim that the country’s roads belong to those who use them, and leave the technocrats to argue about the ownership status of every last section of the national road network. After all, in the final analysis, it is we citizens who depend upon the proper maintenance of these roads, who want them to be clean, not to flood at the first sign of heavy rain and to have damage wreaked by public utility firms repaired. All kidding aside, the mere fact that in the year 2007 an entire ministry has decided to determine the ownership (and, let’s hope, the corresponding responsibility) for our roads show just how clueless we are as an ostensibly modern and developed state. Indeed, although efforts to solve this «problem» are relatively new, the authorities have been arguing about ownership issues for decades. In its comments earlier this week, the ministry clarified that national roads and major thoroughfares would fall within its ownership, which is quite logical, even self-evident. What is difficult to understand is the criteria that is being used to determine that major thoroughfares in Athens, such as Stadiou and Panepistimiou, belong to the ministry, while other crucial roads, such as Patission and Academias, do not belong to the ministry but to a particular municipal or prefectural authority. Irrespective of whether our roads should be divided up in this way, it is unclear why the system should be so complicated. Why can’t we ask other European countries how they have tackled such massive problems and follow their example? The simplest solution, of course, would be for the same system that currently applies to sidewalks to be enforced: namely that the responsibility for their maintenance and repair lies with the the municipality in which they fall. It seems illogical to apply this system to our sidewalks but not our roads. In the final analysis, why should we continue to damage our cars, falling into one of the hundreds of thousands of potholes that riddle Greek roads, and then embark on a wild goose chase seeking the relevant authority to deal with our subsequent complaints? But, if I remember rightly, a similar initiative to categorize ownership of – and responsibility for – Greek roads was undertaken a few years ago and nothing came of it. So is there any reason to be optimistic this time around?
