“In Greece we do not have the culture of project maintenance, there is no control of projects after their construction, they are usually left to their own devices” points out the president of OASP
The need for scientific control and maintenance projects in Kifissos was pointed out by the professor of Dynamic Tectonics and Applied Geology and president of OASP, Efthimios Lekkas, regarding the underground lakes that have been created in the river.
As mentioned by Mr. Lekkas “… I don’t think there is a question of static adequacy in Kifissos and the national road, mainly, which is above Kifissos, but in any case a check is needed, which should be done by specialist civil engineers, who will verify how much wear there is on the walls of its bed, the boxed bed…”. He pointed out that “ponds are common in culverts or dammed rivers, as the erosive energy of the flowing water first erodes the bottom. Of course, on the walls of the boxed river we do not know in what condition they are. From what it seems, they don’t have a big problem, that is, they don’t have any corrosion.”
He continued by saying that from the images he saw “there is no corrosion of the armor. Therefore, I do not think that there is a question of static adequacy in Kifissos and the national road, mainly, which is above Kifissos, but in any case a check is needed, which should be carried out by specialist civil engineers, who will ascertain whether there is wear and tear on the walls of the boxed bed, to see possible interventions that should be done, if of course there is such an issue”.
At another point, however, he mentioned that “the risk that exists is great, since there is a lot of movement, it is the central axis of the basin. Beyond that, however, what you rightly pointed out again, is the issue of culture. Here in Greece we do not have the culture of project maintenance. There is no control of the projects after their construction. They are usually left to their own devices… Of course there is a very big effort by the Technical Chamber of Greece to register the bridges, to have control and monitoring systems of the deformations and the other data that we must have at a central level for all the country’s bridges. Therefore, there is a process in progress so that all the technical works are monitored, especially the bridges, which are of particular importance not only for Kifissos but for all of Greece. I think we are on the right track, but we need to improve the level of maintenance of all projects throughout the Greek area.”
