New bill to legalize coastline constructions

The new coastal law gives leeway to beachfront owners to claim more coastal land believe critics

The government has voted on a new bill that creates a temporary beach line according to the National Cadastre & Mapping Agency S.A. The new law allows the coastline to be increased by 50% and adds around 18,000 kilometers of coastline to Greek maps. Critics believe that the new bill will allow thousands of people to gain meters of coastline to their property and take illegally-built constructions out of the coastal zone.

The charting of the coastal zone will be on digital maps that real estate services of the Finance Ministry will need months to check and this will give private owners the chance to manipulate the law to their means. Until now, those who build on the beachfront usually had a town planning license to build further away, however now this won’t be necessary and will allow certain buildings to pass through regardless of distance to the coast.