The recent debate around the “unfreezing” of the issuance of building permits brings to the fore the problems of Greek administrative practice and the inconsistency in the procedures for issuing building permits.
The decisions of the Council of Europe on off-plan construction and the need to issue a Presidential Decree for the recognition of roads have blocked a series of mature investments in various tourist areas of Greece. One of the most characteristic examples is the one shared with Tornos News by the owner of the company Luxury Hotels Kos IKE, Giorgos Frangos, who is planning a project worth approximately 25 million euros, which concerns the construction of a new 5-star hotel unit, with a capacity of 420 beds, in the Kardamena area of ??Kos.
As Mr. Frangos reported to Tornos News, the investment has received all the necessary approvals and permits, including: Approval from the Ministry of Archaeology (Ministry of Tourism), Environmental Conditions approval (AEPO), vehicle entry-exit approval from the Municipality of Kos, topographic suitability from EVPATE (Ministry of Tourism), approval from the Architectural Council, a grant of 3.5 million euros through the Development Law (Government Gazette 3420/28.07.2021).
Despite the institutional maturity and transparency of the project, the Kos Municipal Public Works Department has “frozen” the pre-approval of the building permit. The reason? The coastal, asphalted and maintained municipal road that serves access to the property is not recognized in the Land Registry, despite the fact that the same road also serves other hotel units, which, however, were licensed at an earlier time.
As recorded in the memorandum submitted by the investor himself to the Kos Public Works Department and communicated to Tornos News, this delay puts the financing from the Development Law at immediate risk, as three years have passed since the approval of the grant. The delay, the investor points out, is not due to any action or omission by the company, but exclusively to the absence of a coordinated administrative response and the pending institutional recognition of roads.
Maturity and transparency of the investment
According to the information provided by the investor himself to Tornos News, the investment is fully mature, as:
The Environmental Impact Study (AEPO) has been approved with a check of the legality and common use of the existing coastal road.
The Topographical Survey has been approved by the Kos Public Works Department, while the building conditions were considered when the department normally granted building permits even on vacant lots.
The entry and exit of vehicles has been explicitly approved by the Kos Municipal Council.
The coastal road, which is essentially the only access axis to the property, is maintained by the Municipality and has been captured in photographs from 1945 to the present, as well as in official Google Earth aerial photographs (2005, 2013, 2023).
This documentation proves, as the investor points out, that the investment meets all the conditions for issuing a building permit and there is no question of questioning the existing road network.
A vivid example of an administrative vacuum
The case of Luxury Hotels Kos IKE, as the investor himself emphasizes in Tornos News, is a vivid example of the institutional vacuum that arose after the decisions of the Council of State on off-plan construction and the need to issue a Presidential Decree for the recognition of roads, which is expected to be completed no earlier than the summer of 2026.
Without a transitional solution – either by circular or by special legislative provision – significant private and European funding is at risk of being lost, while the region is deprived of valuable tourist development and hundreds of jobs.
International and local importance
As the investor emphasizes in his memorandum shared with Tornos News, the delay has broader consequences: It threatens the credibility of Greece as an investment destination, especially for large tourism projects, jeopardizes the Development Law and the absorption of European funds that had been approved for the investment, deprives the local community and economy of Kos of hundreds of direct and indirect jobs, while it would offer significant tourism added value.
The investor himself points out that the case has already been brought to the attention of higher services, including the Office of Social Affairs of the Prime Minister, the Presidents of the Hellenic Land Registry, the Secretary of the TEE, the Secretary General of Spatial Planning & Urban Environment, as well as the Office of the Vice President of the Government.
