Filenews 3 October 2025 - by Vasos Vassiliou
There are apartment buildings, which with a slight earthquake can collapse and kill people, so the issue of dangerous buildings must be regulated as soon as possible.
The report was made before the parliamentary committee on the Interior, by the civil engineer and general secretary of the Scientific Technical Chamber (ETEK) Andreas Theodotou during a discussion of the bill proposed by MP Marinos Mousiouttas, which aims to regulate the problem of dangerous buildings.
Mr. Theodotou stated that the problem is mainly observed in Nicosia and Limassol and especially in the centers of these cities, without meaning that in other parts of them or in other cities there are no problems with dangerous buildings.
We must understand that the safety of the public in general is very important, so we must find a way to ensure it, because the situation is very difficult, he said.
He further stated that the Chamber raised the issue of regular inspection of buildings from time to time and added that at some stage the measure must be implemented.
He also suggested that the support/restoration of dangerous buildings could start from the jointly owned ones, in which more people live than individual buildings.
Regarding the out-of-court measures provided for in the Mousiouttas proposal, the representative of the Ministry of the Interior, Kyriakos Kouros, was in favour of imposing €2,000 for the fencing of dangerous buildings and €1,000 for their sealing, when the owners do not undertake the relevant work on their own.
In the meantime, the discussion of the bill concerning the legislative regulation of the operation of communal buildings, in which almost half of the population of Cyprus lives, ended ingloriously, with the relevant bill now up in the air.
The stumbling block in the discussion of the bill, which dealt with the Interior Committee yesterday, resulted from the fact that the Ministry of the Interior assigned the responsibility for handling the issue and in general the supervision of communally owned buildings to the Provincial Self-Government Organizations (EOA) without consulting them and without approving the resources with which staff will be hired to handle the cases, and so on.
The President of the HOA Nicosia, Mr. Constantinos Yiorkadjis, commenting:
"The EOAs were also assigned the responsibility of handling the issues related to dangerous constructions, for which the local authorities were responsible, again without consulting us.
He also observed that the fees provided for by the monitoring of the management committees and in general of the jointly owned buildings are disproportionately small in relation to the projected expenses.
Our position is negative, added Mr. Georghadjis.
In the same vein, the president of the EOA Larnaca, Mr. Angelos Hadjicharalambous, said: We also undertook the dangerous constructions, also without ensuring reciprocal fees, while we were also assigned many other responsibilities that we have to cope with.
"EOAs should not be constantly in front of a fait accompli," he added.
The representative of the ministry, Ms. Efi Savvidou, stated that last November, when the issue was discussed, an EOA officer did not object to the provisions of the bill.
"Do you think, as a ministry, that because an official had expressed a position last November, you have consulted with the EOAs, especially in view of the fact that just a while ago two EOA presidents were clear that they disagree with the transfer of responsibility for communal buildings," Mr. Damianou wondered, addressing Ms. Savvidou.
MP Marinos Mousiouttas, who was in favour of regulating the issue from the beginning, remarked that any issues must be resolved because the citizens will be served.
The chairman of the Committee said that if the issue is not regulated, AKEL will not vote for the bill. Finally, he said that the Commission gives until October 23 for the ministry to consult with the EOAs, in order to clarify the whole issue.
