The inspections in Paphos regarding the dilapidated and dangerous buildings are proceeding at a rapid pace with the assistance of all eight civil engineer members of ETEK with whom the EOA of Paphos has contracted for this purpose. This was stated to "F" by the president of the Organization, Charalambos Pittokopitis, pointing out that it is with satisfaction that many owners of such buildings are proceeding with the repair and renovation of these apartment buildings themselves.
For those cases where the corresponding willingness and cooperation is not shown to solve this serious problem, said Mr. Pittokopitis, the EOA of Paphos is proceeding to secure court orders for the evacuation of the buildings, in order to force those responsible to take the measures they must take.
Referring to the other two serious issues of current affairs in Paphos, that of the disasters in viticulture from downy mildew and aquatic water, Charalambos Pittokopitis said that he had meetings and contacts with officials of the Ministry of Agriculture in recent days to promote the issues.
I discussed the issue of downy mildew with Maria Panagiotou, before she left the Ministry, she said, and who assured me that officials of the Department of Agriculture are immediately proceeding with a new inspection of the vineyards of Paphos in order to determine again the exact extent of the damage caused by downy mildew to crops this year, after the mass protest of Paphos winegrowers last Saturday on the Paphos-Polis road at the height of Tsada.
If these new inspections, Mr. Pittokopitis stressed, confirm that there is serious damage from downy mildew and grape varieties that have not been announced so far, these varieties will also be covered by the compensations.
The president of EOA Paphos also raised with the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture the issue of the operation of a desalination plant in the bay of Chrysochous. He received, as he said, the answer that the procedures for this issue are progressing at a rapid pace and that very soon we will have tangible results regarding the location of this unit in the bay of Chrysochous in order to then run the procedures for its construction as soon as possible.
It is a vital issue, stressed Mr. Pittokopitis, because the Municipality of Polis and all the municipal departments in the Chrysochous area are supplied with water from boreholes, a fact that cannot be reliable if we consider that due to climate change and extreme weather events with prolonged heatwaves, we cannot rely only on weather conditions for our water supply.
