Filenews 30 April 2023 - by Eleftheria Paizanou
The state – and many businesses – want the procedures for the licensing of large developments to be more flexible, and the revised bill regulating strategic investments, which also includes safeguards for environmental issues, turns in this direction.
Next Thursday, the revised bill on the Facilitation of Strategic Development Projects, which has been through controversy in recent years, will again be put under the microscope of the members of the House Committee on Internal Affairs.
In recent years, the bill has come and gone between the legislative and executive branches, as it has been revised at least three times, due to the reservations expressed at times by some MPs.
The revised bill is one of the first approved by the new Council of Ministers. Obviously, this was preceded by work under the previous government. According to a letter from Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou, which accompanies the bill, the new text takes into account the comments and comments that were expressed during the article-by-article discussion of the previous bill in the Parliamentary Committee on Internal Affairs. At the same time, the minister notes that the bill has been legally checked by the Legal Service and the amendments proposed, after consultation, by the Department of Environment have been incorporated. It is recalled that the reservations expressed in Parliament, both by MPs and by professional bodies and Local Government Authorities, mainly concerned the circumvention of the Scientific Committee for Environmental Impact Assessment of Projects, to which representatives of all competent government departments and representatives of environmental organizations are invited to submit their views. They also concerned the appointment of the "project manager", who will have many powers, as well as the proposed timeframe of 12 months for issuing the project permit.
In the Recovery Fund the bill
The Government is burning for the bill to be approved, as it is included in the commitments made by the Republic to the Commission for the implementation of the Recovery Plan. Specifically, it is included in the 18 prerequisites of the pending second tranche from the Recovery Fund and should have been approved by the end of 2022. Therefore, due to the fact that the deadline has passed, the Republic should speed up the procedures so that the bill can be approved as soon as possible, so that there is no problem with the disbursement of the next tranches.
The changes
"F" presents the revised bill, for which a new effort will be made to overcome the obstacles and be submitted for approval before the Plenary of the Parliament as soon as possible.
In relation to concerns raised about planning permission derogating from development plans, the right to apply applies to all developments, regardless of whether they are strategic development projects, and is regulated by the Town and Country Planning (Derogations) Regulations 2005.
In addition, the new text includes provisions on the timetable and the formal procedure for examining applications. It should be noted that the criteria for making planning decisions in applications for developments that have been characterized as "strategic development projects", stem from the content and provisions of the development plans and the existing legislation, as it applies to the evaluation of all urban planning applications for any development.
At the same time, it provides that the Department of Environment will undertake exclusively the consultation and opinion on all environmental issues. The new bill will simplify the process of licensing strategic investments while reducing bureaucracy. Among other things, a Strategic Development Section will be established in the Department of Town Planning, an institutionalized mechanism will be created that will allow the characterization of a development as a strategy for the Cypriot economy, based on objective criteria, while a Project Manager will be established for each strategic development project that will be included in the mechanism.
In addition, the planning and building permits will be issued by the Strategic Development Sector within one year. Binding timetables for the issuance of all permits will be set in advance and consultations will be established at the same time through the arrangement of a meeting with all stakeholders.
The procedures for environmental study
In relation to the environmental impact assessment study, the bill provides that the head of the Strategic Development Sector, in the context of examining the application of the strategic development project for planning permission, requests the applicant to conduct and submit an environmental impact assessment study as well as a special ecological assessment study, if the proposed development concerns a project that may affect a Natura 2000 site. The content of the study is determined in writing by instructions from the environmental authority and, for this purpose, the Strategic Development Sector, in the context of the preparation of the permit list for a strategic development project, submits to the environmental authority an application accompanied by:
- a spatial plan indicating the immovable property on which the development is to be carried out;
- a brief description of the nature, type, extent and volume of the strategic development project;
- the likely impact on the environment;
- any other relevant information that the applicant deems appropriate or necessary.
In addition, the environmental authority shall review the application and provide relevant guidance on the scope and detail of the information to be included in the study within fifteen working days of receipt of the application.
The environmental authority reserves the right, upon receipt of the request, to consult with the Strategic Development Division and to request any additional information regarding the development or regarding any impact that its execution and operation may have on the environment. The content of the study, which is submitted by the applicant, must comply with the provisions of the law on environmental impacts.
Minimum investment is €20 million
In the revised bill, the provisions defining strategic investments remain the same. Specifically, in order for an investment to be characterized as strategic, the minimum investment must be €20 million, of which at least 75% must come from primary funds (new, liquid, available funds directly related to the project). In addition, it must create at least 80 new permanent jobs of any type or 50 new permanent positions with an annual payroll in the Republic of Cyprus exceeding €1.5 million. Capital investments and job creation will be made as follows:
- Investment of €15 million of which at least 75% should come from primary heads and the creation of 30 new permanent jobs.
- Investment of an Anchor Company, i.e. the company is a well-known multinational of international reputation, which will do business in Cyprus and is registered in relevant international lists FORBES 2000, NASDAQ500, FTSE 350.
