The numbers of buildings that were burned or damaged during the recent fire in mountainous Limassol confirm the vicious circle that has prevailed over time in the construction sector.
Based on the data obtained from an audit by the Limassol District Local Government Organization (EOA), out of the 710 buildings that were either burned or damaged, in 104 cases there is no permit. This means that the constructions were completed without securing an urban planning permit or building permit. Over the course of time, this number may be differentiated upwards since, as we are informed by the EDA, another 221 cases of buildings were found for which there is insufficient data and permits have not been identified.
Moreover, in 336 cases a building permit has been identified, which also refers to the existence of urban planning permits that precede the building permits. However, out of these 336 cases, only 293 have been confirmed (beyond any reasonable doubt) so that the number of 336 may decrease in the process.
The only thing that is certain is that, so far, 293 out of the 710 that have been inspected are legal, so far, partially licensed, i.e. about 40% of the buildings have a permit. Another 417 buildings either have only a planning permit or do not have any permits, but this will become apparent in the course of the deepening of the control that is being carried out.
The reference to "partially" (for 293) refers to the possibility that many or all of them have not secured a final approval certificate, but this concerns a large percentage of buildings nationwide, which is overlooked.
The only certainty, also so far, is that 104 buildings have been erected without any permit (urban/construction).
In the context of the investigation carried out, it was also found that out of a total of 710 buildings, 49 had been granted a planning permit. For these 49 cases, a planning permit was found, but no building permit was found.
In summary, the data that emerged from the inspection of the 710 buildings that have been destroyed by the fire are as follows:
• For 336 building permits have been identified (for 293 it has been confirmed, while for the remaining 43 the files found will be checked again).
• A planning permit has been identified for 49.
• For 104 there is no license.
• For 221 there is insufficient data and no licenses have been identified.
As it is known, the mayor of Kouri, Pantelis Georgiou, had estimated that 20-30% of the houses that were completely or partially destroyed, fall into the category of unlicensed premises, which were erected outside the legal residential zones. Eventually, the percentage will probably turn out to be higher. Already so far, with the 104 buildings that were found without any permit, the percentage ranges from 13-15% of the total.
The whole effort to ascertain the real situation that prevails regarding the legality of the buildings affected by the fire, was quite difficult in the sense that the relevant files were handled for a long time by the provincial administrations, in "ketapas", as we were characteristically told. Over time, several pieces changed their number or owners, which complicated the process of locating the files.
Especially for the 221 cases of buildings for which no data was found or insufficient data was found, EDA officials are expected to contact each of the owners, in order to ask them if they themselves have any documents that prove that permits have been issued, and so on. The EDA has sent the data it collected to the Limassol District Administration. When the situation with the building permits is clarified, those who do not have approvals will submit the relevant documents in order to be legalized in order to receive the relevant compensation from the government.
Some of their owners and/or designers have already contacted the EDA asking for information on the procedure they must follow in order to approve their compensation. As is well known, based on the government's decision, those who have all the permits will receive full compensation, while the owners of those owners who did not issue the relevant permits will receive only 25% of the damage they suffered.
