apokoronas.gov.gr

Land seizures for Crete's new northern highway affect property owners across Apokoronas

April 8, 2026 Original source ↗ Verified source

Summary

The Greek Ministry of Infrastructure is drawing up compulsory purchase lists for properties lying in the path of Crete's new Northern Road Axis between Chania and Rethymno, and five of the nine planned cadastral sections pass through the municipality of Apokoronas. Property owners in areas including Kalyves, Armenoi, Georgioupoli and Kournas must urgently review the cadastral registers to verify that their personal details, land measurements and any structures on their land are recorded correctly. Correction requests can be submitted directly to the Ministry or, more conveniently, through the Apokoronas municipal offices, which will forward them in batches.

Crete's Northern Highway: What Apokoronas Property Owners Must Do Now

The construction of Crete's long-awaited new northern highway is moving from blueprint to reality — and for property owners in Apokoronas, that means one thing: it is time to act.

The Greek Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport has begun compiling official land registers listing every property to be compulsorily acquired for the new Northern Road Axis of Crete (known by its Greek acronym VOAK), specifically the Chania–Rethymno section. The Municipality of Apokoronas has received the relevant files from the Ministry and is publishing them in full so that residents and their engineers can check the records without delay.

Which areas are affected?

Five of the nine planned cadastral sections run through Apokoronas municipal territory:

Section 1: Part of Chania municipality and part of Kalyves
Section 2: The remainder of Kalyves, plus properties in Armenoi, Neo Chorio, Kaina and Paidochori (roughly as far as the Agii Pantes junction)
Section 3: Areas around Paidochori, FRE, Kalamitsi Alexandrou, Kaina, Nipos, Mazi and Vryses
Section 4: The Mazi area, together with Georgioupoli and Kournas
Section 5: Kournas, Kastelli and Fylaki (Apokoronas municipality), and Episkopi (Rethymno municipality)

What must property owners check?

Every affected owner — personally or with the help of their engineer — must go through the cadastral tables and verify:

Personal details: full name, father's name, and other identifying information
Property details: recorded area (square metres), location, boundaries
Structures and improvements: trees, buildings, fences, outbuildings, and any other assets on the land

Errors or omissions in these records can directly affect the compensation a landowner receives. Getting this right matters.

How to correct an error

Anyone who spots a mistake must submit a formal correction request addressed to:

Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport General Secretariat for Infrastructure / EYDE/KSESPP Karystou 5, 11523 Athens Tel.: 210 699 2263, ext. 291 and 217 Email: eyde.mkepp@ggde.gr

Importantly, the Municipality of Apokoronas has arranged with the Ministry that residents may submit their correction requests at the Apokoronas municipal registry (protocol office). The municipality will collect them and forward them to Athens in batches — saving residents a trip to the capital.

Where to find the official documents

All five cadastral files, the two route-alignment plans, and the five compulsory purchase orders are available to download here:

Official cadastral documents — Google Drive

Important: no new building permits in expropriation zones

Property owners who were planning to apply for a building permit on land that falls within the expropriation corridor should be aware that this process has been suspended. No new building permits will be issued for properties inside the designated zones.

Background

The Northern Road Axis of Crete is one of Greece's largest infrastructure projects. The concession contract was ratified by law in mid-2025, and the concession formally began on January 30, 2026. The full Chania–Rethymno stretch is divided into nine cadastral sections; five of them lie within Apokoronas. The announcement was issued on April 8, 2026 by Evangelia Kastrinaki, Head of Technical Services at the Municipality of Apokoronas.

Official source

Source translation

Machine-translated from the official source document.

EXPROPRIATION FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE ROAD AXIS "NORTHERN ROAD AXIS OF CRETE"

8 April 2026, 1:58 PM

The Municipality of Apokoronas, with the aim of avoiding inconvenience and ensuring the timely information of citizens, hereby announces that the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport / General Secretariat for Infrastructure / General Directorate of Transport Infrastructure is proceeding with the preparation of cadastral tables for the properties that are to be expropriated in the context of the construction of the new Road Axis "Northern Road Axis of Crete" (VOAK), section Chania – Rethymno.

The relevant information reached the Municipality of Apokoronas through the dispatch of five files so that the competent Urban Planning Department (which the Municipality does not possess) could be informed, in order to suspend the process of issuing building permits for properties falling within the expropriation zones of the new VOAK.

The Municipality of Apokoronas, in order to protect the rights of citizens and to ensure the smooth progress of procedures, is publishing the contents of the three files so that they are immediately accessible to all residents and their engineers.

From the information we have received from the Ministry, the cadastral sections up to Rethymno number nine (9).

At the following link you will find the files containing the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th cadastral sections that concern the Municipality of Apokoronas, specifically:

The first file concerns the 1st cadastral section (from chainage 8+000.00 to chainage 18+707.09), which includes part of the Municipality of Chania and part of the Local Community of Kalyves of the Municipality of Apokoronas.

The second file concerns the 2nd cadastral section (from chainage 18+707.09 to chainage 25+528.00), which includes the remainder of the Local Community of Kalyves as well as properties in the Local Communities of Armenoi, Neo Chorio, Kaina and Paidochori (practically approximately up to the Agii Pantes junction).

The third file concerns the 3rd cadastral section (from chainage 25+528.00 to chainage 32+833.99), in the area of the Local Communities of Paidochori and FRE, the Local Communities of Kalamitsi Alexandrou and Kaina, and the Local Communities of Nipos, Mazi and Vryses.

The fourth file concerns the 4th cadastral section (from chainage 32+833.99 to chainage 41+238.24), in the area of the Local Community of Mazi of the Municipal Unit of Kryoneridа and the Local Communities of Georgioupoli and Kournas of the Municipal Unit of Georgioupoli of the Municipality of Apokoronas of the Regional Unit of Chania.

The fifth file concerns the 5th cadastral section (from chainage 41+238.24 to chainage 45+524.19), in the area of the MUNICIPAL UNIT OF GEORGIOUPOLI in the LOCAL COMMUNITIES OF KOURNAS, KASTELLI AND FYLAKI,

MUNICIPALITY OF RETHYMNO, in the MUNICIPAL UNIT OF LAPPAION in the LOCAL COMMUNITY OF EPISKOPI (RETHYMNO).

You will also find the two plans showing the final alignment of the new VOAK and the five decisions declaring the compulsory expropriation of properties required for the construction of the road axis "Northern Road Axis of Crete", section Chania – Iraklio, sub-section Chania – Rethymno, as these were dispatched by the competent service of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.

Citizens must, themselves or with the assistance of their engineers, verify: their personal details (surnames, first names, father's names, etc.), the details of their property (areas, etc.) and any improvements on their properties (e.g. trees, buildings, fences, storerooms, etc.),

within the sections being expropriated from them, for the accuracy of the data in the cadastral tables compiled by the Ministry, in order to identify any errors or omissions requiring correction.

In the event that they identify errors, they must submit an application for the correction thereof addressed to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport / General Secretariat for Infrastructure / EYDE/KSESPP (Special Public Works Service / Construction of Transport Works under Concession Contract)

Karystou 5, 11523 Athens Tel. 2106992263, 291, 217 E-mail: eyde.mkepp@ggde.gr

The aforementioned competence arises in accordance with Article 3.1.214 of the Concession Agreement of the Project, which was ratified by Law 5204/2025, Government Gazette A' 89/03-06-2025, as the Commencement of the Concession took place on 30-01-2026.

Finally, the Technical Service of our Municipality has come into contact with the Ministry of Infrastructure and, for the convenience of both parties (ministry and citizens), offers citizens the possibility of submitting their applications (as described above) to the registry (protocol) of the Municipality of Apokoronas, where they will be collected at regular intervals and forwarded to the competent service of the Ministry.

VRYSES, 8 APRIL 2026

The Head of the Department of Technical Services

Evangelia Kastrinaki Dipl. Civil Engineer, MSc