“The development of the infrastructure regarding the transport of agricultural products along with the promotion of tourism is the goal of the City Council of the municipality of Ierapetra” stressed in an interview to “In-On” magazine, the mayor of Ierapetra, Sifis Anastasakis.
Question: What are the development projects for Ierapetra?
Answer: Our aim is the developmental infrastructure that supports transportation in the agriculture sector and tourism to proceed. In this framework, we promote the road projects that connect Ierapetra with the adjacent municipalities as well as the rest of Crete, establishing the area as a core center in the southern side of Crete.
Thus, the roadwork of the Southern Highway that connects Ierapetra with Vianno and Sitia are in various stages of maturation and implementation. These projects are funded by NSRF with about 25 million Euros. Additionally, the environmental standards have been approved and parts of the road network Ierapetra –Viannos – Agioi Deka – Herakleion are under process. Regarding the provincial road network we steadily proceed to improve the whole of it.
In the field of improvement projects that directly affect the important agricultural production of the area where intense dry and thermal elements exist, there is a single plan of water management of the municipality of Ierapetra that includes a series of enormous irrigation projects, dams and water reservoirs that cover the needs of the agricultural land of the whole region. This is the framework that the single water supply project of the municipality waterfront is included.
The third axis refers to the enhancement of the infrastructure that deals with the citizens and visitors’ daily routine. For example, we move on to urban improvements in the city and the villages as well as interventions that have to do with the reduction of the volume of household waste through recycling and home composting. Our goal still remains which is a factory that processes plant residues and surely we promote organized urban development with city plans.
Question: Tell us your actions about tourist development in Ierapetra
Answer: Tourism constitutes a comparative advantage of the area that has not been exploited to a full extent till today. As a municipality authority we have set priorities in this sector which we regard crucial as far as the issue of tourism is concerned.
In the first place, in the promotion level we have taken initiatives to renew and enrich our information material for the visitors while we promote our stable presence in tourist fairs and at the same time we exploit the award the beaches of Ierapetra have received in a European level.
Furthermore, we are particularly interested in facilitating the creation of new tourist units that are currently being constructed in the area while at the same time we assist the promotion of the units that already operate sharing an excellent cooperation with tourist factors that actively participate in the tourist committee of the municipality and outline the policy and the promotional actions that the municipality participates.
Another significant parameter refers to the natural environment as well as the mountainous regions of the municipality that attract new forms of tourism. The aim is the revitalization of our villages and their projection as second residence through actions that will be developed during the next two years reaching the sum of 2, 5 million Euros. These actions will refer to interventions that have to do with the promotion of culture, tradition and the unique characteristics the settlements on the mountains in our municipality have.
At the same time any intervention on a developmental level demonstrates our prospect on tourism in the area, a fact that within the next years will be evident in the infrastructure that is being implemented or planned. Additionally, regarding the part of infrastructure we promote the creation of a tourist port and a marina for the area of Ierapetra.
Question: Tell us about the archaeological sites of Ierapetra
Answer: Gournia –with the unknown ancient name– is the most characteristic example of an excavation site of medium-size settlement during the Minoan era of prosperity (Late Minoan Ι era: 1550-1450 B.C).The site is well-preserved and for that reason it was called “Pompeii of the Minoan Crete”. The settlement is situated on a low hill, very close to the sea, at the isthmus of Ierapetra.
The settlement of Vassiliki is one of the first Minoan settlements with urban planning stretching along the slopes and the top of the low hill that is near the village of Vassiliki, very close to the Minoan settlement of Gournia. Its existence starts during Early Minoan era ΙΙ (2600-2300 B.C) and its prosperity is due to not only to its important location where the location of the isthmus of Ierapetra exists, but also due to the fertile valley of the region. Also, the museum was created in the late last century even under Turkish occupation. Often location was changed. Today, it is located in the Commercial Ottoman School, a building which has been declared a traditional-listed building and was given to the Ministry of Culture by the municipality of Ierapetra.
The History of the City.
The fortress which was built by the Venetians is the known as “Kales” to the inhabitants of Ierapetra, and it is situated on the most southern pier of the ancient port facing the side of “Sarakinas”. It belongs to those monuments of the past that its strong construction in coordination with its utility till the last years of the previous century, made it stand there till today, in order to remind the difficult times our Nation has been through and also to make younger generations think and learn so as to avoid the mistakes of the past. The next reference of the fortress was in the 16th century when Sammicheli supervises its construction after the tremendous earthquake in 1508 and the Turkish raids. It is apparent, though, that the damages were very serious and not all the necessary repairs were done. In 1647, Ierapetra was conquered by the Turks and the fortress, despite its bad condition due to the war, was preserved for defense reasons on behalf of the Turks and even though a lot of reforms were made some Venetian elements were kept as well. Its current name “Kales” surely comes from the Turkish word “koules”, which means tower.
In Kounoupaki square, (where the City Hall is located), an oblong building exists known as Ottoman School or Mehtepi. It was built for the young Turks in 1899, after the liberation. Today, the archaeological collection of Ierapetra is housed there, with findings from the area that were not transported to bigger museums in Greece and abroad.
CURRICULUM VITAE
The mayor of Ierapetra was born in 1950 in Agios Nikolaos in the prefect of Lasithi.
He has been a qualified Civil Engineer graduated from the Aristoteleion University in Thessaloniki since 1975.
In 1998, having formed a complete picture and acquired knowledge regarding the developmental problems of our prefect and more specifically of the shortfall in the infrastructure, he was actively activated in Secondary Administration.
He was elected for the first time as a Prefect Council of Lasithi, taking the responsibility to materialize the construction projects in the prefect as the Chairman of Infrastructure and Construction Committee. During the elections of 2002, he was reelected Prefect Council of Lasithi, second in the order of preference. During the period of 2005-2006, he was the Deputy Prefect regarding Construction and Infrastructure and Chairman of the relative Prefect Committee. At the elections of 2006, he was elected Prefect Council for the third time, first in the order of preference by the citizens of Lasithi and took over the responsibility to materialize the Construction and Infrastructure projects again, from the post of Deputy Prefect.
After the untimely death of the Prefect of Lasithi Antony Strataki in 2008, the Prefectural Advisors of the “Lasithi – Civil Society” party elected him Prefect of Lasithi by a large majority. He completed his tasks till 31/12/2010.