Filenews 3 July 2025 - by Vasos Vassiliou
In order to prevent fires and unhindered access for firefighting forces in the event of a fire, DISY MP Nikos Sykas submitted a proposal for a law aimed at registering rural roads, which will also serve communities or their residents, especially farmers.
In the explanatory memorandum of the proposal, the debate of which begins tomorrow (3/7) before the Parliamentary Committee on the Interior, it is stated that "its purpose is to enact legislation to regulate the procedure for the registration of existing rural roads as public roads for fire protection purposes, given that the existing procedure for the registration of rural roads in general is particularly time-consuming and inefficient".
The report adds that "the proposed legislation is necessary to facilitate the access of firefighting services to the affected areas, with the ultimate aim of safeguarding the public interest and public safety and health".
The reasons why the MP submitted the relevant legislation include the following:
-There are a large number of rural roads whose mapping and legalization is absolutely necessary for fire protection purposes.
-The process of registering rural roads is particularly time-consuming and inefficient, since it requires either obtaining the consent of the affected landowners or expropriating land.
-The legalization of a significant number of unwritten rural roads and their registration as public roads, within a reasonable period of time, is deemed necessary for fire protection purposes.
-The lack of direct access of fire services to areas where there are unregistered rural roads makes it particularly difficult to take effective fire protection measures.
-In the event of danger, the need to protect the public interest and public safety and health prevails over the right to property.
The proposed law also states that "rural road" means any road that has been opened by any prefect or by any local authority, after approval of the relevant prefect, for use by the public, which is on the ground on the date of entry into force of this Law. After all, "legalization of a rural road" means the registration of a rural road, in order to become a public road.
The proposal also includes a provision on the basis of which the (each time) Local Authority concerned may submit a written request for the requisition of a rural road that falls under its jurisdiction, for fire protection purposes.
For the requisition of a rural road, the provisions of the Law on the Requisition of Property shall apply, including the provisions relating to the compensation paid for the requisition of immovable property, and the requisition shall be valid for a period or periods of time not exceeding three years in total.
In the event that an affected owner consents to the concession of part of a plot of land for the purposes of legalising a rural road, the compensation to be paid to him is determined on the basis of the market value of the plot. Any increase in the value that will occur from the registration of the road is deducted from the resulting amount.
In the event that an agreement is not reached within a reasonable time with the affected owners, the legalization of a rural road may be achieved by forced expropriation of the affected immovable property.
