Filenews 10 July 2021 - by Vasos Vassiliou
The Cypriot is elusive when he wants to use the legislation to break the law and the last incident that proves the truth is the complaint of the president of the Ecologists, Mr. Charalambos Theopetou, according to which citizens apply for the construction of a "rural warehouse", but then turn it into a house. This reference was made by Mr Theopetou during a debate on the issue of fires before three parliamentary committees.
Mr Theopetou referred to "a new fashion for converting rural dwellings into houses". On 5 July, in a letter to the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Costas Kadi, he pointed out the following: "With regard to the above issue, I would like to bring to your attention the exploitation of agricultural warehouses in agricultural blocks. From what I have been informed, some people obtain a permit and build large agricultural warehouses in agricultural blocks."
Mr Theopetou also indicates that the procedure followed does not include checking whether the applicant is a farmer or whether there is an intention to cultivate the piece in which the warehouse is placed and constructed. Then, according to Mr. Theopetou, by securing the permit to build the warehouse, the owner applies for drilling and when he secures the permit, converts the "warehouse" into a residence. The President of the Ecologists suggests that in order to prevent this violation, the procedure should be much stricter and include:
• Specifications of the warehouse as was the case before
• Do not give permission to people who are not farmers
• Check that the applicant has actually followed the provisions of the applicant's authorisation
Finally, Mr Theopetou observes in his letter to the Minister that on such matters we must be very strict as there are many who are prepared to violate/exploit the conditions to acquire a holiday home in a lateral way. Before the House he also made reference to individual residences and citing fire department data from the past twelve years, he said, that they are the third cause in terms of the magnitude of the destruction caused by fires.
It is recalled that Interior Minister Nikos Nouris had mentioned before the Parliamentary Committee on the Interior that some 10,000 permits for the construction of an individual residence had been issued. He pointed out that "in the name of housing the poor they grew villas with swimming pools". With regard to the periods during which the permits were issued, Mr Nouris said that between 1990 and 2008 6,500 permits were granted and to date the Town Planning estimates that they exceeded 10,000.
