Filenews 3 February 2021
The main aim is to make our country an attractive destination for high quality tourism
The amendment of the golf course policy, with the aim of achieving the creation of an overall worthwhile golf course infrastructure as an alternative and enriching tourist product, is requested by letter from the Association of Major Development.
The Association even submitted specific suggestions which were put before both the minister responsible for agriculture, Mr Costas Kadi, and the Committee for the Development of Golf Courses.
The aim is, as the Association points out, to attract high quality tourism, making Cyprus an attractive destination for this purpose.
More specifically, the Association of Major Development points out the issue of the difficulty of granting urban permits. due to the requirements of the Department of Water Development to complete primarily the construction and operation of the necessary water supply projects and other infrastructures. Both the Town Planning and the Minister responsible agreed with the Association's proposal that these requirements be met at the building permit stage.
Another equally important issue raised by the Association is the abolition of the €2.5m bank guarantee or insurance policy. for the benefit of the State for the management of the golf course.
Another inhibitor of investment in golf courses is the payment of Water Supply Association Rights for each plot/building, in accordance with the practice followed in the usual land separations into plots which in the case of land amount to a minimum of €1.5 million per land.
As the Association notes, the development companies of golf courses are charged entirely in addition to the cost of constructing the necessary infrastructure, such as the public road network and services (including water and irrigation networks) and in addition, with the cost of transporting water up to development, as well as storing and connecting it to the plots under construction. This additional cost ranges, where appropriate, from €2.0 million to €2.0 million. - €5.0 million. Consequently, it is unfair for golf developments to be subject to these Association Rights for work carried out by them and the Local Authority collects those rights without incuring any costs justifying the imposition of the water supply fee, as is the case with normal land separations.
For the above reasons, the Association recommends that water supply association rights should not be enforced in the case of Golf Course development.
Regarding the general policy of reducing the cost of water consumption for golf courses, the Association recommends that the special provision be made to charge the cost of transporting water to the point of delivery, reduce the financial fee from 15 cents to 10 cents in order to bring it into line with the irrigation fee for football fields and reduce the environmental and resource charges from 8 cents to 2 cents. , so that it is again in line with the irrigation fee for football stadiums. Mr. Kadis, for his part, gave instructions for the Department of Water to review the issue with the possibility of reducing fees for the broader agricultural sector by 20% by mid-2021.
