Deal signed to relocate Korydallos prison
A deal to relocate Athens’ high-security Korydallos detention center to an old NATO base in Aspropyrgos, western Attica, was signed by the Citizen Protection Ministry and state asset utilization fund TAIPED on Thursday.
The initial budget for the construction of the new facility amounts to 130 million euros, excluding VAT, and only concerns the initial construction costs, without including equipment, operation and maintenance.
Based on the original planning, the new facility will be developed on an area of approximately 9 hectares and will include 14 wings, with a capacity of 200 people each. It will also include a hospital, a psychiatric ward, a rehab centre, courtrooms, school education wards, a gym, a library, disciplinary cells (solitary confinement), while there is also provision for places of worship.
The deal provides that TAIPED will be responsible for tendering the project to a contractor on behalf of the Citizen Protection Ministry, and the monitoring of the implementation of contact that will be signed between the ministry and the contractor. The project will be implemented through a public-private partnership.
The relocation comes after the recommendation of an expert committee commissioned by the Citizens’ Protection Ministry in 2019.
Moving Attica’s prison from Korydallos, near Piraeus, is a long-standing demand by residents and one of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ pre-election promises.
