Prodea is continuing undisturbed with preparations to restart work on the White Coast hotel complex, in Mytakas, Milos, following the Council of State’s rejection of the application seeking annulment of its expansion. The company refers to a “positive outcome of the case” and is planning to resume construction work at the beginning of 2027.

According to information, however, the appeal was rejected as having been filed out of time, without the court examining on the merits the objections concerning the property’s buildability and the environmental licensing.

The development also raises questions about the timing of the Municipality of Milos’s response, as approximately one year passed before it became aware of the scale of the planned expansion and took legal action. When was the municipal authority informed about the scale of the investment, what actions did it take during the intervening period, and why did it not go to court earlier? These questions take on particular significance when the appeal is rejected because the deadline had expired, without the substantive objections to the project being examined.

The Megaproject

White Coast is a tourism facility whose capacity is projected to increase from the 99 beds in the original design to 271, with 125 rooms and a private pool for each room, in addition to the central pools. The scale of the project makes it even more pressing to answer how the local authorities dealt with its development without any prior intervention.

The case has been referred by the Ministry of Environment and Energy to the National Transparency Authority, which is completing its report on the hotel’s licensing, located just 1.9 kilometers from Sarakiniko. The findings are being awaited with particular interest, as the investigation concerns the circumstances under which the approvals were issued and the role of the Municipality of Milos, the competent planning and building authority, and the other services involved.

The Project’s Objections

The rejection of the appeal concerning the tourism facility is seeking to breathe new life into the investment, without the questions that prompted it having been judicially answered. The appellants (ELLΕT, the Municipality of Milos and two private citizens) argued in their appeal that the project’s environmental licensing, in the absence of spatial planning, violates Article 24 of the Constitution. They also raised the issue of buildability, arguing that the property does not have frontage on a legally recognized road, a requirement for construction outside designated planning zones.

At the same time, they stressed that, while awaiting approved urban planning for Milos, the guidelines of the existing spatial organization study could not be ignored. For the specific area, which lies within a Wildlife Refuge, the study provided for low-intensity tourism development. According to information, since the decision has not yet been formally transcribed, the court ruled that the prescribed two-month deadline for challenging the decision approving the environmental terms had expired.

The rejection on grounds that the appeal was out of time does not, however, amount to judicial confirmation that the objections against the project were unfounded. It means that their examination stopped at the procedural stage and that this particular judicial avenue has closed without providing an answer on the substance of the dispute.

The “Positive Outcome” in the Company’s Report

In its financial report on its nine-month results, Prodea, which owns 49% of V Tourism, the company that owns the hotel, records Council of State decision 1097/2026 without specifying the reason for the rejection. Following the “positive outcome of the case for the Company,” as it characteristically states, the hotel unit is expected to reopen for the 2027 summer season, while completion of the expansion is scheduled for 2028.

According to the history presented in the report, on January 27, 2026, V Tourism was served with an application for suspension, following an application for annulment. The appeal was directed against the decision approving the environmental terms dated August 5, 2024, and the revised building permit dated August 7, 2024.

The court issued an interim order requiring V Tourism to refrain from any construction activity related to the project until a decision was issued on the application for suspension. The latter was heard on March 11, 2026, while a hearing for the application for annulment had been scheduled for May 6.

Work is now scheduled to resume after the general suspension of construction work in force until the end of 2026 on the northeastern coast of Milos, pursuant to a decision by the Ministry of Environment and Energy.

The Successive Expansions

White Coast is being developed on an area of approximately 30 stremmata and is among the largest hotel investments on the island. Its expansion onto two neighboring plots proceeded through successive revisions of the 2019 building permit, in 2021 and 2024, and required new environmental licensing.

The August 2024 environmental approval recorded one building already in operation, with a capacity of 50 beds, and four additional buildings under construction. With the revisions, the planned capacity is almost three times that of the original design.

The expansion came into the spotlight following the exposure of the hotel investment case at Sarakiniko, which opened the broader discussion about construction pressure on Milos.

ELLΕT Calls for Review of Around 30 Permits

The discussion remains open beyond Mytakas as well. In a recent statement, ELLΕT (Hellenic Society for the Environment and Culture) said that on July 14, 2026, it served an extrajudicial protest, complaint and formal request on the competent Building Service and the Municipality of Milos, calling for a review of around 30 building permits for hotel units.

The organization clarifies that none of these concerns a family construction project. Rather, it says, they involve large-scale business projects in critical areas of the island, on plots outside designated planning zones, most of which do not have access to a legally recognized road.

“We are not prejudging the outcome of the review. We are asking for the review to be carried out,” ELLΕT stresses, alleging that at the time of its announcement it had received no response. It calls on the authorities to substantiate the legality of the permits or, if violations and shortcomings are identified, to address them.

The construction suspension is approaching its expiration, and, as the organization emphasizes, the new urban planning framework has still not been presented. The question is whether the reviews will take place before new faits accomplis are created. Because deadlines may close a legal case, but they do not answer the question of how and under what conditions Milos is being built.