Cyprus Mail 6 September 2019 - article by Annette Chrysostomou
A total of 767 projects worth more than €2.7 billion can be viewed on the new government portal ‘Exandas’, which was launched by President Nicos Anastasiades on Friday.
According to the government, 90.17 per cent of those are expected to be completed by 2023.
The new online portal increasing public access to the workings of the government with the aim of improving transparency and accountability presents all development projects, reforms, policy decisions and national strategies being launched or implemented together with the money spent.
“It enables MPs, journalists, political parties, local bodies, organised groups but also every citizen not only to be informed about the progress of the government works, but also to check the government for consistency of words and deeds,” Anastasiades said at the launch.
To this end, there will be a systematic input of information and data into the programme, as each ministry will keep the entire system up to date on the progress of announced projects, reforms and other decisions.
The program is also meant to enhance the coordination of all government agencies involved in projects or decisions.
The President explained the portal has one link that lists developmental projects by region which have either been completed, are under construction, are being launched or have been stopped due to technical, legal or other reasons.
These are projects which have been announced during meetings with local authorities in recent years.
The second link, or theme, focuses on the decisions taken by the government on the basis of the pre-election programme, which are related to reforms, political decisions and actions but also to national strategies which have either been completed, are being implemented, are before the legal service for review or before the House of Representatives for voting.
A special team has been set up in each ministry to update the data, which will be done on a quarterly basis.
Of the 767 projects amounting to €2,702,743,214 work on 90.17 per cent of them will be completed by 2023, head of the office of the Presidential office Petros Demetriou said.
The site also shows the projects by region, with 227 being in Nicosia, 206 in Limassol, 139 in Larnaca, 117 in Paphos and 78 in Famagusta.
In the section about policies, reforms and national strategies 321 actions have been posted, covering 40 reforms, 230 policies and decisions and 51 national strategies adopted since 2013.
The actions are divided into seven pillars relating to the economy, social policy, health, education, justice, defence policy and the environment.
The new portal can be found at exandas.presidency.gov.cy
