Annual General Meeting Of The Network Of Cities With Lakes For 2018
On Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd of April 2018, the Annual General Meeting of the Network of Cities with Lakes was held with great success in the Municipality of Ziros, in the Town Hall of Filippiada.
Representatives of the Municipalities-Members of the Network from Greece and Cyprus, Members of the Parliament of the Preveza Prefecture, delegates from the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece, executives of the Local Authorities of the Preveza Prefecture, the Region of Epirus and the Decentralized Administration of Epirus and Western Macedonia, attended the Meeting.
The pupils of the 1st Primary School of Filippiada with the Parents’ Association gave a pleasant image to the General Meeting as they presented a painting exhibition with theme the Lake Ziros.
On the first day of the meeting, the President of the Network and Mayor of the Municipality of Dorida, George Kapentzonis, and the Mayor of the Municipality of Ziros, Nikolaos Kalantzis, welcomed the members of the Network. Afterwards, Mr. Kalantzis presented extensively the issues and projects in regard to Ziros Lake and the water lake’s area zone, while he was particularly stressed the supply and establishment of floating platforms of a swimming reservoir to the lake, a project that impressed the attendees.
The presentation of Lake Ziros by the pupils Maria Siafaka and Nikolas Pappa of the 2nd and 3rd Junior High School of Filippiada respectively, was remarkable. The new Members of the Network were presented, namely the Razlog and Bansko Municipalities of Bulgaria and the cities of Lebedyn and Bucha of Ukraine. Finally, there was a brief about the activities of the Network for the 2017 and the actions for the 2018.
Subsequently, in the context of the first thematic section “Public Power Corporation S.A. (PPC S.A.)-Hellas and compensatory benefits of large hydroelectric projects”, the audience attended with special interest the propositions of Mr. Nicholaos Choutas, Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Amfilochia, Grigorios Perdikis, Director of Arachthos Group PPC S.A., Theodoros Babalis and Georgios Papanastasiou, Mayors of the Municipality of Agrafa and the Municipality of Agrinio respectively. Interventions were made by the Mayor of the Municipality Nikolaos Skoufas, Mr. Efstathios Giannoulis, the Mayor of the Municipality of Edessa, Mr. Dimitrios Giannou and others. Everyone agreed that there are no compensatory benefits for the Municipalities and the Local Communities, while the damage which is caused is multi-level and large.
The first day’s operations continued with the suggestion of Apostolos Kimisis, Mayor of the Municipality of Amfilochia, on the «Local Government today and the necessary reforms», which opened a wide circle of discussion on the arrangements in Local Government and the change in the electoral system, which is promoted by the government and the suggestion of Dimitrios Giannou, Mayor of the Municipality of Edessa about «Sports and Recreational activities in lakes».
On the second day, in the context of the section «The Hellenic Association of Municipal Water and Sewerage Companies (E.D.E.Y.A.) and the new Law», the President of E.D.E.Y.A. and Mayor of the Municipality of Rethymno, Mr. George Marinakis, presented all the aspects of the new Law and the points that should receive particular attention from the Municipalities.
Within the context of the thematic section «Sports and Recreational Activities in Lakes», Mr. Frixos Triadis, Member of the Hellenic Sailing Federation, presented the «Sailing on Lake Pamvotida», Mr. Konstantinos Dalamagas, Member of the Rowing Federation, presented the «Development of Athletic Tourism in Lake Ecosystems» and Mr. Konstantinos Tolidis, Managing Director of iNNOS Company, Div. of Engineering & EU Funding Projects, presented the project of floating platforms and pools that have been contracted and will be constructed the following time period to Lake Ziros.
The Meeting in combination with the excellent hospitality and contribution of the Municipality of Ziros, gave the opportunity to the participants to get to know the city of Filippiada, as well as to explore the gorgeous Lake Ziros.
