To the Minister of Environment and Energy Mr. Kostas Skrekas
& the Deputy Minister of Finance Mr. Theodoros Skylakakis
Here Athens, 20.1.2021
SUBJECT: Need for approval, funding and implementation of the “KEEP” program!
Honorable Ministers
The Bureau of our member Association “Panhellenic Association of Owners of Preserved Buildings and Monuments” informed us about the efforts of the Spatial Planning Secretariat & of the Ministry of Urban Environment, in the preparation of an innovative program which will include as its axis the creation of a special support and financing mechanism for the renovation and rescue of private preserved buildings within the framework of the Country’s Recovery Fund, as well as the undertaking of special care for those old buildings that deserve to be saved and renovated as preserved.
The institutionalization and implementation of this program, in addition to being a Constitutional obligation of the State and responding to the obligations of our Country by Granada Convention, will have a huge social dimension, because the renovation of preserved and old buildings combined with the removal of derelict buildings without an owner will lead to an immediate upgrade of many neighborhoods and areas in Athens and the other old cities of our country, freeing them from the painful consequences of the existence of dilapidated and abandoned buildings without an owner, without affecting constitutional ownership rights.
But mainly its importance will be developmental because it will give value and possibility of utilization in a large part of the residential fabric of the city centers, will be a trigger for reconstructions and renovations in all areas with such properties that will “breathe” qualitatively and environmentally.
It will give work to crews and workers in construction, trade and industry of building materials, and all services related to construction, with understandable beneficial effects on employment and the GDP of our country.
We therefore strongly support the promotion and approval of this program, and ask for your actions.
For the Board of Directors of POMIDA
The President The Vice President The Secretary General p>
Stratos Paradias Prof. Charalambos Tsoutrelis Tasos Vappas Lawyer AP-President UIPI Om. NTUA Professor Lawyer AP-y.D.N.
