OT at TIF – Western Greece gov.: “We would rather turn off the lights in our offices than on the streets”

The Governor of the Region of Western Greece, Mr Nektarios Farmakis, spoke at OT FORUM from the 86th TIF about the development course of Western Greece. In particular, he referred to the initiatives undertaken by the local government regarding energy security and the challenge of tourism development. Mr. Farmakis spoke about the perennial problem of local government which he said is cash flow. This does not only concern the money directed from the central administration to the regions and municipalities, he explained, but also other issues such as recruitment which has been frozen for 12 years.

Mr Farmakis referred to the infrastructure projects that the region of Western Greece has undertaken to implement at a cost of 630 million euros, but also to support the health system and entrepreneurship during the difficult period of the pandemic.

Energy alliance

Referring to the problem of energy crisis, Mr. Farmakis spoke about the initiative that the region of Western Greece has long since undertaken. “It is a large energy alliance aimed at disengaging from energy costs. We have created energy communities of a purely public nature by drawing up plans for what we need to produce. Thus we built a photovoltaic park in Messolonghi, with the participation of 66 public entities. We are waiting to be connected to Independent Power Transmission Operator. The logic is: what I consume I produce and so we can zero energy costs. This is something we did long before the energy crisis broke out,” the regional governor stated.

He then referred to the plan that the region of Western Greece has drawn up to reduce consumption. Mr Farmakis made it clear that: “We would rather turn off the lights in our offices than on the streets”, while he also referred to the Rio – Antirrio bridge, the lights of which will be turned off. The regional governor said that, although the bridge is under the responsibility of a private party, he shares the reaction of citizens to the decision to turn off the lights. He also pointed out that the private party could ensure that the electricity needed is generated by the private party.

Potential for tourism development

Regarding the development of tourism in the area, Mr Farmakis believes that there is a lot of room for development. The road network is being completed and there will be a connection with central and northern Greece. Two strategic investments are being made in the region of Western Greece, in Palero and Kyllini. The region is an up-and-coming tourist area and there are already four-star hotels and sailing tourism that open up many possibilities in combination with the road network that is being completed, so that there will be tourist development, the regional governor of Western Greece said.