Why is the organization of a business park in Kalochori an important project?
The project, combined with the unified waterfront, can transform this much-marginalized part of the long-suffering West Side.
By Fanis Ugrini*
We are not talking about the rest of the Greeks or even the residents of Central Macedonia. For most of Thessalonica, Kalochori, its economic activity and its wetland are completely unknown issues. The Ligos are those who used to spend their afternoons in the infamous Bangladesh and those who visit their families in what is left of the once famous marshes, to observe the flamingos, pelicans and other – more expensive – seabirds. Even fewer know that the hundreds of factories and warehouses that try to travel the highway make up an “Informal Industrial Cluster” (ABC, perhaps the largest in the country) • a de facto industrial area at a geographic hub, whose legal status is under certainty. , as neither the corresponding land uses nor those necessary for the operation of the infrastructure have been foreseen.
Of course, only those who must visit the place have an opinion on the third-world situation that prevails there, next to the port and a few kilometers from the city center. Unmaintained narrow roads with no drainage system, nominally rural, that flood at the first rain, hell for trucks. Inadequate public lighting, all for metal theft gangs infesting the area. Antiquated electrical, sewage and telephone networks, unable to support product development. And to all the above problems were added the provisions of the legislation on the utilization of old plots of land and the permitted installation of processing units, calling into question the economic future not only of Kalochori but – it would not be an exaggeration to say – of all of Thessaloniki. Consider something simple: who would dare to invest somewhere where they could lose their license long before they recoup their costs?
After several months of formal preparatory work, on Thursday the Region did not indicate that it is proceeding with the transformation of the ABS into a normal industrial park, gradually carrying out all the accompanying actions. As a project it may not sound impressive enough (like maybe the fly over), but the reality is different. PKM’s strategic initiative and local environmental protection will support, and the current sufferings of those who work there will disappear, and the productivity of the units it will raise, and the property values it will increase, and the unknown lagoon of Kalochori it will bring closer to locals and visitors, and obviously new productive investments that they will attract, given that there have been no available plots of land in the Sindos EPI for a long time.
This, combined with the unified waterfront, the rail and road connection of Problem 6, and the sanitation at the Dendropotamos estuary, can transform this much-marginalized part of the long-suffering West Side project. Logically, the Lachanokipoi should be next, the huge off-plan zone within the urban fabric, a leisurely ten minute walk from Vardari. The specific area at the entrance of the Municipality of Thessaloniki can reflect the future of our entire country, covering especially the special foreign innovation centers. The planning actions of the previous municipal authority could not be described as bold enough, in contrast to what was presented in Alumyl’s recent architectural competition for the same area. The officials of the ITH are asked to try harder.
* Fanis Ugrinis is a business consultant