As water levels rise again at the Aposelemis Dam and the village of Sfedili slips back beneath the surface, a different conversation is unfolding among locals.
Beneath the relief over water reserves lies frustration—long-standing, structural, and increasingly vocal.
Resident Kallia Chatzaki describes a landscape that is not just geographically isolated, but gradually emptied. The road connecting the plateau, she argues, remains the defining problem—slow, unsafe, and unchanged despite decades of promises. According to her, fewer than 2,000 people now remain across 18 villages, a figure that reflects not just demographic decline, but what she calls a steady process of desertification.
“How many families and businesses would invest in this fertile valley if there were a modern, safe, and fast road network?” she asks, pointing out that political answers usually boil down to a lack of “political teeth” rather than a lack of need.
The “Payback” Fallacy
Without a modern, safe, and efficient road network, the plateau cannot retain people, attract investment, or sustain growth—no matter how fertile the land or how strong the cultural identity.
Antonis Chalampalakis echoes this view, placing the issue in a broader historical context. For more than fifty years, he argues, there has been no coherent vision for connectivity. Without a proper link to the northern highway (VOAK) and the new airport at Kastelli, he believes the plateau’s future is mathematically predictable: decline.
He points to missed opportunities—European funding periods that, in his view, were spent on short-term projects rather than essential infrastructure. Even proposals for improved road access, such as the Kastamonitsa–Plateau route, appear to have stalled or shifted toward more complex and uncertain alternatives.
Others move from diagnosis to urgency.
Giorgos Karofyllakis calls for collective action, arguing that the situation has reached a breaking point. Safe, fast, and accessible entry to the plateau, he suggests, is no longer a development goal—it is a survival condition.
The Water Paradox
Konstantinos Pitarokoilis broadens the discussion by linking infrastructure to agriculture and long-term viability. He recalls earlier proposals, such as land redistribution (αναδασμός). He highlights the ongoing dependence of the region’s water resources—particularly those that feed the Aposelemis reservoir—even as local development remains incomplete.
The tension is not only about roads, but about balance: who benefits from the region’s resources, and who is left behind.
“If you older folks remember, both Costas Mitsotakis and Papandreou came—in fact, during the latter’s visit, they laid out carpets and rugs. They did nothing. The only serious projects were the reservoirs and the irrigation system, which still hasn’t been completed. But the people and the local authorities need to demand the water for Aposelemis. The Ministry of Development wants two factories to keep the community going with 100 workers. There aren’t enough people who love their hometown as much as they should,” he wrote on Facebook.
Tolls and Transport Cost Concerns
That concern becomes sharper in comments like those of Zacharias Paterakis, who raises the additional burden of rising transport costs, including tolls and fuel expenses, which disproportionately affect mountainous areas:
“In a few months, we will have tolls every 20 minutes… on top of gasoline taxes that are already effectively tripled for us because we are driving uphill, not on the plains.”
Michalis Marakis adds another layer, pointing to environmental and agricultural pressures. While water from the plateau supports urban and tourist areas such as Heraklion, Hersonissos, and Agios Nikolaos, local producers face increasing scrutiny of their farming practices, amid fears of future restrictions on cultivation and livestock.
What emerges from these voices is not a single complaint, but a pattern.
Water flows outward. People do not.
And while the reservoir fills again, the plateau continues to ask the same question it has been asking for decades: not whether it can survive, but whether anyone intends to make it viable.
Credit & Thanks: * Kallia Chatzaki for leading the discussion.
Antonis Chalampalakis, Giorgos Karofyllakis, Konstantinos Pitarokoilis, Paterakis Zacharias, and Michalis Marakis for their invaluable local insight.
