The unsightly mess of overhead power cables and transformers which line the streets of the towns and villages of Crete are something which the long-time resident eventually tunes out – more or less, but they remain a jarring sight for visitors from countries where cables are normally under the ground. The reasons for the choice must lie partly in cheapness and ease of access, as well as possibly greater resistance to damage from earthquakes. It is nevertheless good news that, according to a press release by the Municipality of Platanias, plans are under way to bury the power lines in the local community, and it is to be hoped that the process may be extended in future to other areas in the Municipality, including Kolymbari:

On 15th May a three-way agreement was signed at Platanias town hall in Gerani for the “placing underground of the high- and medium-tension electricity supply network” in the community of Platanias, at a cost of €1.2 million including VAT. The signatories were the mayor of Platanias, Giannis Malandrakis, and representatives of ADMIE (the Independent Power Transmission Operator) and the grid maintenance body DEDDIE. Work is expected to start after the end of the tourist season and will include the replacement of six overhead transformer cabinets with compact ground-based units.

The project is to be funded 50 per cent by DEDDIE and 50 per cent by the Municipality of Platanias, with the Municipality’s share being paid by ADMIE. At the signing, Mr Malandrakis said “… following our application, in collaboration with ADMIE and DEDDIE, we have reached the point of signing the agreement for placing the overhead power network underground. At the same time the cost which would normally fall on the Municipality is being carried by ADMIE. The project is of very great importance for the Municipal Community of Platanias.”

The mayor also expressed his thanks to the CEO of ADMIE Manousos Manousakis and the organisation’s staff, as well as the Municipality’s Technical Services and DEDDIE for bringing the plans to completion. Apart from the aesthetic improvements it will bring, the implementation of the work will also enable the freeing up of space on the ground as well as the removal of power-line poles from the pavement. The resulting increase in free space will make access easier for both visitors and permanent residents.

The Municipality of Platanias had previously made an application for the work to be carried out in view of the overall benefit to the wider Municipality, resulting from the passage of underground power cables from the Crete-Peloponnese submarine connection.
(www.platanias.gr)

Tragedy in Sfakia

The possibility of a connection between overhead power lines and the Cretan enthusiasm for loosing off automatic firearms at times of celebration may seem remote, but the two came together in tragic fashion in Sfakia last week. Around midnight on the evening of Sunday 14th May, 25-year-old Nikos Kagiadakis was returning to Frangokastello from the house of a relative in a neighbouring village when he came across a high-tension power line which had been severed by what the police refer to as “askopos pyrovolismos” – aimless shooting. The fallen line had set fire to some vegetation and the 25-year-old tried to put it out with a bottle of water, but unwittingly touched the line and was electrocuted. The area was plunged into mourning and the municipality of Sfakia issued a statement of condolences regretting the loss of a “brilliant youth”.

The event prompted Ioannis Kasselakis, who took the seat of the deceased Manousos Voloudakis in Parliament and is now standing for election with Nea Dimokratia in Chania, to call for an end to illegal gun ownership. In a written statement, Mr Kasselakis said:
“After the recent tragic event of the loss of a young man from shooting, I believe that the statement issued some years ago by the University Crete on the problem of gun ownership is more timely than ever. Amongst other things the statement condemned the phenomenon of gun-carrying as a degeneration of the heroic traditions of the island and said,
– that the use of guns is a barbaric custom which cannot be reconciled with the hospitable disposition and the longstanding traditions of Crete,
– that politicians and police forces must see to the elimination of the phenomenon.
“As a candidate and potential future MP I commit myself with all my powers to stamping out the phenomena of illegal gun ownership and gun use, which only bring suffering to the area.”

The fact that the accident would not have happened had the cable been laid underground is perhaps beside the point, but overhead power lines remain dangerous for a number of reasons. One wet February morning several years ago in Afrata village, the air had become so laden with moisture that a cable adjoining a transformer cabinet several metres above ground actually discharged to earth with a flash and a loud bang. Anyone standing underneath would have been as if struck by lightning.