- Stavros Arnaoutakis met Sitia Mayor Giorgos Zervakis to review ongoing infrastructure projects and future interventions.
- Funding routes discussed include ESPA and the National Development Program (EPA).
- The extension of VOAK (Northern Road Axis of Crete) to Sitia was a central demand.
- Arnaoutakis repeated the strategic line: “VOAK means from Kissamos to Sitia.”
- The meeting emphasized quality-of-life improvements and road safety as core priorities.
Crete’s easternmost Municipality is once again asking the question that tends to get lost somewhere between Heraklion and the next press conference: When does Sitia stop being “far away” and start being fully connected?
That was the subtext behind today’s meeting between Crete Regional Governor Stavros Arnaoutakis and Sitia Mayor Giorgos Zervakis, a session that focused on the progress of local infrastructure works, the pipeline of upcoming studies, and the funding mechanisms that can move delayed projects from “paper” into “reality.”
The discussion took place at the Region of Crete with the participation of Deputy Mayor for Technical Works Stelios Spyridakis, underlining that this was not a courtesy visit, but a practical meeting shaped around the technical and financial details: projects already underway, studies maturing toward implementation, and the wider development needs of the Sitia area.
What makes this meeting stand out is not that it was held — these happen all the time — but that it again placed VOAK’s completion to Sitia in the political spotlight.
VOAK from Kissamos to Sitia
No matter how many times Crete talks about development, one truth remains stubborn. Without a complete, safe road axis running through the entire island, every local plan has a ceiling.
Arnaoutakis made a pointed reference to the strategic importance of extending the Northern Road Axis of Crete (VOAK) to the eastern edge of the island, reaffirming the Region’s support for a unified road network reaching Sitia.
He repeated the phrase that has become a political banner for eastern Crete:
“For us, VOAK means from Kissamos to Sitia.”
It is a weighty sentence because it rejects the old unofficial geography in which Sitia is often treated as a “nice place to visit,” but not as a place that receives equal infrastructure priority.
In the same context, Arnaoutakis stressed that, with proper planning and full use of funding tools from ESPA and the National Development Program (EPA), the Region is moving forward with the infrastructure Sitia genuinely needs, with cooperation between the Region and the Municipality described as continuous.
He also explicitly linked these works to improvements in quality of life and road safety, which is crucial because VOAK is not merely a development project; it is also a public safety issue on an island where traffic risk has long outpaced infrastructure capacity.
Mayor Zervakis, speaking on behalf of the Municipality, thanked Arnaoutakis and expressed satisfaction with the cooperation, emphasizing that regional support is decisive for advancing local demands and implementing essential infrastructure projects.