On Thursday 18 April 2024, the Minister of National Defence Nikos Dendias attended the groundbreaking ceremony for a complex of housing units for Armed Forces personnel in Orestiada, in the context of the launching of the housing programme of the Ministry of National Defence.
The ceremony was also attended by MP Christos Dermentzopoulos, the Deputy Head of Region for Finance, Culture, and Volunteering of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Fani Baharidou, the Mayor of Orestiada Adamantios Papadopoulos, His Eminence, the Metropolitan of Didymotiho, Orestiada, and Soufli, Mr. Damaskinos, the Mayor of Soufli Panagiotis Kalakikos, as well as representatives of local community bodies.
On behalf of the military leadership, the ceremony was attended by the Chief HNDGS, General Dimitrios Choupis, the Chief HAGS, Lieutenant General Georgios Kostidis, and the Commanding General of D Army Corps, Lieutenant General Stavros Papastathopoulos.
In his address, Mr. Dendias stated:
“Your Eminence, fellow MP, Chief HNDGS, Chief HAGS, Mayor, representatives of the Local Authorities, distinguished guests, dear friends, as I have repeatedly said, the “Agenda 2030” aims at the total transformation in the Armed Forces.
But it would have no content if one of its pillars was not about supporting our main force multiplier, the personnel of the Armed forces, the women and men who serve wearing the honoured Greek uniform.
So, the improvement of their living conditions is and must be the top priority for the Government and the Ministry of National Defence. In the context of the functions of our Ministry, we focus on their housing needs.
I will not tell you something new by saying that for me it is an obvious obligation of the Hellenic State to support those whom the State moves all over Greek territory to perform their duties.
So, our goal is to provide housing to every member of the Armed Forces who moves to perform his service, from the place of his main residence. It is an obvious provision.
We realise the time that will be required to complete the project, but everything must have a start. This is an essential benefit that increases the available income and improves the standard of living of the members, as well as of their families.
So, we start today with the groundbreaking of a new complex of 13 apartments, here, in remote Orestiada. This way, I am given the opportunity, as it was presented to you before, to announce a big housing program of the Ministry of National Defence. The fact that it starts from here is a symbolism.
We aim at the construction of thousands of houses, exceeding a decade. Here, today, we are launching the first phase of the project. As the Brigadier General said before, it includes 702 apartments, 54 complexes, with a budget of 100 million euros and guaranteed funding, upon a mandate of the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, from the Public Investment Program. We have closely cooperated for that with the competent Minister, Nikos Papathanasis.
This first phase I told you about consists of 5 cities of Thrace and 13 Aegean islands, regions that are nationally sensitive, with a limited availability of houses today and especially in the islands, with an extremely high cost of acquiring the few available houses.
The project though, as Chief HNDGS said before, has a broader social imprint.
15% of the houses that we will construct will be made available to employees of the public sector, who also move to perform the duties that the country assigns to them. We refer mainly to teachers and doctors.
The rest of the houses, the 85%, will be made available to the Armed Forces and, as a priority, to our low ranking personnel; the people who seek and have every right to make a new start in their life.
With the existing funded program we increase the coverage percentage of the current requests by 35%. The first phase will be completed by 2027. In fact, the majority of the houses will be delivered by the summer of 2026 and until then we will work for the funding of the second phase that will start after the absorption of the first 100 million and will consist of another 715 houses in Crete and the mainland. Ladies and gentlemen, the residential project of the Armed Forces combines the development of infrastructure, the reinforcement of social cohesion, and the reinforcement of national security.
A priority project that – I repeat – is included in the “Agenda 2030”. At the same time, it will help the local economies; it will contribute to the decrease of unemployment, to the protection of the environment. With the use of advanced technologies and sustainable materials, we will reduce the energy imprint as well.
The strategy for the national defence is obviously multidimensional.
One of its main priorities, as I said, is to ensure not only the integrity and independence of our country, but also the conditions that the personnel that serve these principles deserves.
The Armed Forces must become the framework of a model of their anthropocentric development, contributing in a future for our country that will make us all proud.
Thank you”.
HOUSING PROGRAMME OF THE MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEFENCE
The Housing Programme of the Ministry of National Defence is one of the main pillars of actions and aims at resolving the housing problem, especially for low-ranking personnel.
It is an attempt divided in 4 phases of implementation, giving priority in the remote areas and the islands with high renting cost and limited availability of houses.
It includes first the broader region of 5 cities of Thrace (Alexandroupolis, Didymoticho, Orestada, Komotini, Xanthi) and 13 islands of the Eastern and Central Aegean (Karpathos, Rhodes, Kastelorizo, Kos, Samos, Chios, Leros, Lesvos, Limnos, Samothrace, Skyros, Mykonos, Syros). More specifically, in this phase, 54 new complexes will be constructed consisting of 13 apartments each, that is 702 new apartments, the completion of which, under normal conditions, is expected by the summer of 2027.
For the implementation of the sub-works, open public biddings will be performed, in accordance with the provisions of L.4412/2016 (GG A 147/08.08.2016) on Projects, Procurements and Services Public Contracts (adaptation to Guidelines 2014/24/EE and 2014/25/EE).
The new houses of the border regions will host professors – teachers and doctors – nurses of the National Health System, in the context of Scheduled Agreements between the Ministry of National Defence and the Ministry of Education, Religion and Sports and the Ministry of Health respectively.