News / EU

Greece plans to build more refugee centers

Monday, 07 March 2016 4:43 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 07 March 2016 4:41 PM ]

A refugee sleeps against a fence at the Greek-Macedonian border near the Greek village of Idomeni, on March 7, 2016, where thousands of refugees are stranded. (AFP Photo)

Greece's government says it's planning to build accommodation centers for refugees at nine new sites to cope with the increasing number of refugees who have been stranded in the country after its neighbors tightened their borders.

Athens stated on Monday that the new shelters with a total capacity of 17,500 refugees will be erected near the capital and in central Greece.

Deputy Defense Minister, Dimitris Vitsas, said 16,000 of those places should be available by the end of the week and could be used to relocate about 14,000 refugees stranded in the village of Idomeni by the Macedonian border, and 3,000 more refugees stranded in Piraeus, the country's busiest port.

Greece's armed forces have built most of the country's refugee shelters at disused military bases.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing conflict-ridden zones in Africa and the Middle East, have trekked across the Balkans route from Greece to northern Europe.

EU states along the route, however, have been tightening their borders making the already perilous journey across the sea and land in rain, snow and cold more difficult for the refugees.