Nikos Tachiaos, Greece's deputy minister for infrastructure and transport, said on Friday that cracks and ground subsidence recorded in apartment buildings in the Athens neighborhood of Kypseli pose no risk to residents' safety and that none of them need to leave their homes.
Tachiaos made the remarks in an interview with the host Vasilis Koufopoulos on the programme "Stigmiotypa," broadcast on the Athens radio station SKAI 100.3. He was asked about the state of buildings in Kypseli, where cracks and subsidence have appeared as the tunnel boring machine digging Line 4 of the Athens Metro passes beneath the district.
Asked directly about the condition of the buildings, Tachiaos said there was no risk whatsoever to residents' safety and no reason for anyone to move out.
Yellow and red labels explained
Tachiaos said he wanted to clear up a point that has caused confusion: the "yellow" and "red" labels attached to some buildings in the area have nothing to do with the classifications used after natural disasters such as earthquakes or fires. He said the labels are internal categories from a vulnerability study being carried out by the project's contractor under the supervision of Attiko Metro, the state-owned company that builds and runs the Athens Metro system. According to Tachiaos, the categories simply show what stage of the study each building needs to move to next, and do not mean the building is in immediate danger.
Repairs at no cost to residents
Tachiaos said he found the unease among residents entirely understandable and said he has kept personal, direct telephone contact with them so he can update them on developments as needed.
He announced two specific commitments. First, repair works will cover all of the damage recorded in the buildings. Second, the cost of the repairs will be borne exclusively by the project's contractor, in line with its contractual obligations, meaning residents will face no financial burden at all.
How the monitoring system works
On the monitoring in place along the route, Tachiaos explained that the passage of a tunnel boring machine, known in Greek as a "metropontikas," typically produces small, minimal ground shifts that are usually imperceptible. In Kypseli's case, he said, measurements were and continue to be taken in real time, as part of a permanently operating system with graduated levels of alert and alarm.
Independent checks by engineers' body
Tachiaos said residents will receive the full set of findings once independent expert reports are submitted by the Technical Chamber of Greece, the country's professional body for engineers known as TEE, with the cost covered by Attiko Metro. He said the checks are not based on rough visual estimates but use specialised measuring instruments and radar, so that the conclusions rest on fully documented technical data.
He declined to commit to a specific date for the results, saying the studies need to be fully documented before residents are given answers.
Lessons for the rest of the route
Tachiaos said the methodology developed to safely resume drilling with the tunnel boring machine in Kypseli will also be applied to the remaining sections of the route, in order to prevent further damage as construction continues.
Line 4 is a new line under construction for the Athens Metro network, intended to serve parts of the Greek capital not currently covered by the existing lines. Kypseli, where the disputed buildings stand, is a densely populated, largely residential district north of central Athens known for its early twentieth-century apartment blocks.
Closing the interview, Tachiaos said the priority remains a documented, scientific approach to the issue, so that Kypseli residents get timely and responsible answers about their homes and eventually see them repaired.
