Revision of the fees for issuing building permits in all categories of developments, from houses to tourist accommodation, industries, etc. is in the works.
In fact, some suggest that the fees for a building permit for a house be increased from about €100 to about €400, the final decision for which the Parliament will be called upon to make. As "F" is informed, the Minister of the Interior, Mr. Konstantinos Ioannou, believes that the increase in fees is justified, but at the same time he reportedly said that he is not willing to submit a bill that will provide for an increase in the fee beyond €180.
The discussion of the issue is expected to begin in September, when the Parliament will reopen but, according to information, in the part of the bill where the amount of the proposed increase is recorded, it will remain blank to be determined by the discussion between the parties and the bodies involved. However, based on the correlations, it is not certain that the Parliament will accept to take on the role of the state by determining the revised fee itself.
However, the NNRAs, which favour the increase in the fee, indicate on the one hand that the proposed increase is not related to the reform and invoke the fact that the last time a revision took place was in 2003.
The president of the EOA Nicosia, Mr. Constantinos Yiorkadjis, with whom other EOA presidents agree, supporting the need to increase the fee, notes the following changes that have taken place in recent years:
– The overall increase in inflation is about 55%
– Wages have increased by about 90%
– The cost of building a house per square meter increased by 186%.
The EOAs indicate that the fees are remunerative and do not make a profit from them but cover the cost of examining/issuing the licenses and their revision will contribute to the survival of the Organizations and the offer of better quality services to the citizens.
ETEK was called upon to take the chestnuts out of the fire by taking on the role of calculating the fees, doing "exercises on paper" and taking into account all the factors that affect the issuance of licenses. ETEK will not have a direct benefit from the revision and the "profit" will be indirect, in the sense that the differentiation of the fees goes hand in hand with the simplification of the process of calculating/determining them, which leads to savings of thousands of man-hours required for their calculation.
The president of ETEK, Mr. Konstantinos Konstantis, told "F", that with the simplification of the calculation procedures, both those involved (EOA and designers) and the citizen will know without friction the amount that must be paid for the issuance of the building permit that concerns them. At the same time, with the solution proposed by ETEK, the cost of the licensing service will be borne by those who want to build and not by all the citizens who are served by each EOA. In other words, the current fees benefit those who build (professionals and non-professionals) given that the EOA secures the money required for the operation of the service from other areas of its activity (sewerage, water supply) so the cost is passed on to everyone.
The issue of revising the fees began with a request to the state to finance the licensing sector, which was rejected by the Minister of the Interior Konstantinos Ioannou. The issue began to be examined more hotly, when ETEK addressed the Minister of the Interior, raising the issue of simplifying the process of calculating fees. In the discussion, the issue of the revision of the fees for building permits was also raised and ETEK undertook to study the issue. After examining and taking into account all the parameters, it prepared a relevant proposal which will be examined by the EOAs and the Ministry of the Interior.
The president of ETEK, Konstantinos Konstantis, told "F", that the main goal is for the calculation of fees to be done in a more objective, understandable and easy-to-use way, reducing the need for complex individual calculations while reducing delays. Also, in an attempt to find the golden mean, the aim of the new effort was to ensure the principles of cost-orientation and reciprocity, so that, as a general rule, the fees reflect the actual administrative cost of examining applications. At the same time, it was deemed necessary to maintain a reasonable continuity of the existing methodology and practice. In this context, the application of the new methodology was sought not to result in significant changes in fees, both by category of development and in the total amount of revenues.
The president of ETEK also explains that the philosophy of the new proposal is to replace a complex and subjective methodology with a simple, transparent and easily applicable fee calculation system, based mainly on clear categories of development with the central parameter of covered spaces and the reduction of development categories. Mr. Konstantis believes that the Chamber's proposal respects the principle of reciprocity, the principle of continuity.
The amount of the revision of the fees proposed
As far as the snuff box is concerned, i.e. the amount of the revision of the fees, the proposal of ETEK provides for rights for housing premises of €3.5 per square meter (sq.m.) of covered space, for commercial offices €10 per sq.m., for industries, crafts, warehouses, petrol stations are proposed €8 per sq.m., for tourist developments €10 per sq.m., for educational premises €6 per sq.m., for health facilities, social care and welfare €10 per sq.m., for sports facilities €5 per sq.m. Covered space and €2 per sq.m. of uncovered space. For recreation/recreation and cultural purposes €10 per sq.m., for places of worship and cemeteries €1 per sq.m., for agriculture and livestock €0.70 per sq.m., for EAC substations / Biological Stations / Pumping Stations / Desalination €10 per sq.m. with a minimum amount of €500.
For telephony antennas, €1,000 is recommended if it is installed on the roof of a building or €1,500 if it is erected on the ground. For photovoltaic parks, €1.50 per sq.m. is proposed and for wind farms, 1% of the estimated value of the construction work is proposed.
