According to Greek officials, the government is planning to use a former cotton mill near the city of Thiva in central Greece to house some 1,000 migrants.
The government plans to transfer the majority of the migrants currently living at the defunct Athens airport, Elliniko, to the Thiva facility.
This upheaval of the migrants living in migrant reception camps around Greece on the mainland as well as the islands is a part of the Greek government’s efforts to restructure the migrant facilities that have until now mainly consisted of migrants living in overcrowded quarters, sleeping in makeshift tents without running water or electricity.
The migrant reception camps have fallen under much scrutiny from international organizations saying that the living conditions are sub-par and even dangerous to the health and well-being of the migrants.
Although the newly announced plan to open a camp near Thiva has yet to come under disapproval, the plans to open four migrant camps on the island of Crete have met some government concerns.
On Tuesday, local officials met in Crete in a meeting convened by the mayor of Hania, Tasos Vamvoukas, to discuss their specific concerns regarding housing the 2,000 processed migrants who will be transferred from the overcrowded migrant camps on the Aegean islands to the new facilities in Crete, set to start construction in November.
Concerns focused greatly on the impact that having four migrant centers in Crete would likely have on the tourism sector; something that the islands currently hosting migrants have witnessed the past couple of seasons, with devastating outcomes for many businesses that rely heavily on the tourism sector.
“Knowing what has happened on other islands and the disastrous tourism season they are currently experiencing, there is no reason for us to have the same problem,” the head of the association representing hoteliers in the Chania prefecture, Manolis Giannoulis, said as he spoke to the other officials at the meeting.
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