Mandra flood report: Public and private responsibilies for 39 building within the riverbed

Elected members of the Municipality of Mandra are accountable for the arbitrary construction of municipal buildings within the river bed, such as the vehicle depot and the municipal stadium and the attempt to settle these arbitrary actions by subordinating them to the relevant law.

For the Aigaleo Forestry Departnet, responsibilities have been attributed to officials who have delayed for three years in responding to twhether the area is considered a forest or non-forested in order to proceed with the flood defense projects.

The urban planning department for Eleusis has been attributed responsibilities because no spot checks were carried out for arbitrary constructions, and in certain cases it issued legal permits for the erection of buildings even within the river bed.

The report finds that this urban planning department issued legal permits for the construction of buildings even in the stream. According to the finding, the arbitrary buildings within the streams of the area exceed 39 and are warehouses, residences, fuel stations, depots, stadiums and an entertainment center.

Responsibilities are also attributed to specific private engineers, who undertook and completed the construction of arbitrary buildings in the stream.

The main conclusions of the report show that:

(a) The procedures for the implementation of flood defenses must in all cases be short.

b) The River Basin Hazard Risk Management Plan has not demonstrated the magnitude of the problem either due to limited available data or because of the uniqueness of the phenomenon of 15 November 2017.

c) There has been long-term cooperation between the services involved, but the degree of urgency of flood prevention projects in the region has not been assessed.

(d) The flood phenomenon of 15 November 2017 created the need for immediate damage restitution to the Old National Road of Elefsina-Thebes.

e) The need to delineate streams in the area through reliable hydrological data and to update the Flood Risk Management Plan has been identified.

f) There were arbitrary constructions of the private as well as the public sector in some cases in the riverbed.