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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-08-08
CONTENTS
[01] Declaring former airport an archaeological site won't affect
investment, says minister
[01] Declaring former airport an archaeological site won't affect
investment, says minister
Declaring the site of the former Athens airport at Hellinikon an
archaeological site will not affect the investment in any way, Culture
Minister Aristidis Baltas said on Monday during a visit to Crete.
The Culture Ministry's General Directorate for Antiquities and Cultural
Heritage sent a letter last week to several government departments to
inform them that it plans to declare the area an archaeological site.
"Such a declaration does not affect anything in the investment. The center
of Athens is a declared archaeological site but this hasn't stopped
neither construction activity nor city life," Baltas said. "All this
declaration means is that there is an institutional acknowledgement that
antiquities have been found in the wider area, therefore there must be a
systematic monitoring by the Archaeological Service of all the projects
within the defined area."
He also said the investors know about this issue and the two sides are
in contact.
The country's privatization fund (HRADF) and a consortium led by Lamda
Development signed an updated memorandum of understanding a few months
back for the development of the 6.2 million square meters coastal front
site in southern Athens.
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