Filenews 4 March 2021 - by Adamos Adamou
The need for regulations so that swimming pools located in single tourist developments and other communal development projects are not considered public swimming pools, is restored by the developers, since at this stage, as formed after the abolition of the passport program and the pandemic, each investment counts.
And the existing legislation, according to the Association of Land and Building Development Entrepreneurs, not only does not help attract investment, but drives away property buyers who invested in Cyprus. "After the crown, the abolition of the JEP and the dramatic reduction of tourists, the economy is called upon to bear another burden, that of the flight of European and other property buyers, i.e. permanent tourists to Cyprus, the only ones left," says the legal adviser of the association in a letter to the chairman of the parliamentary Committee of the Interior Eleni Mavrou.
In his letter, the councillor of the developers, Stavros Slimos, is in fact calling for the resumption of the debate on the subject, on the basis of the proposal for a law tabled by MP Elias Myrianthos, which amends the Public Swimming Tanks Act. As he argues, the proposal for a law is a good basis for addressing the problem, since it leads to partial compliance of Cyprus with European standards EN15288-1 EN 15288-2, which our country should adopt. The adoption of the relevant standards, Mr. Slim told "F", will automatically exclude private swimming pools in single deployments from public and, by extension, from the need to guard them by a lifeguard, but also to maintain a number of other services, such as changing rooms, toilets, etc. "Today, we do not know that there is a private swimming pool that has been licensed under the existing law and our lack of compliance, unlike the other states of Europe, from which property buyers come and where they end up, irreparably affects our economy during these difficult times, much to the delight of our competitors," the developers argue through their lawyer in their letter to Ms. Mavrou.
In the same letter, it is noted that the obligation to comply with the existing law has disastrous consequences, since the obligation to present lifeguards actually makes it prohibitive the amount of communal costs that should be imposed on owners. As a result, joint building management committees resign and no one wants to be appointed to them if they are criminally liable for non-compliance with the law. In addition, it is claimed that buyers of units in communal projects with swimming pools have been significantly reduced, due to the exorbitant public interest provided and those who have already purchased sell their apartments and buy in other competitive countries in Europe, which have complied with the standards. Finally, the developers argue that swimming pools are closing, thus degrading quality projects and irreparably affecting the Cypriot economy and the prestige of Cyprus as a modern state within the EU.
And the Health Services favour a change in the law.
The problem that seems to be presented with regard to community projects, but much more the need to modernise legislation, is also recognised by the President of the Commission. Interior Helen Mavrou. Speaking to 'F', Mrs Mavrou noted that the issue had been discussed in the past in committee, on the basis of the proposal for a law tabled by Mr Myrianthos, but said that this was a difficult issue, on which technocratic support is also needed. In this context, he expressed concern about whether the issue could be settled with the proposed law and suggested that it would be preferable to do so through a bill. On the basis of this preparation required, Mrs Mavrou expressed the view that it would be difficult for the House to deal with the matter in its present composition.
The need to modernise existing legislation is also stressed by the Health Services of the Ministry of Health, which say that the complete and complete modernisation of the existing legislation on Public Swimming Pools is necessary in order to resolve the major distortions and pathologies that exist. They also point out that the need to modernise legislation has been identified by them for at least a decade.
The Health Services also state, in their own letter to Mrs Mavrou, that there is already a ready-made modernised draft law - from the Ministry of Health - expressing the view that "it would be best to promote this draft for discussion and possibly include elements of Mr Myrianthos' proposal".
