The Cyprus Ministry of the Interior has announced the signing of a contract for the demolition of four blocks of flats in the government villages of Chrysospiliotissa in the Kato Deftera area of Nicosia and Agios Spyridonou in the Kato Polemidia area of Limassol.
The contract was signed by Kyriakos Koundouros, Director of the Ministry of Town Planning and Housing, on behalf of the client, and by Savvas Petrou, Director of Consortium ENOTECHNIKI ΑΤΕ & SP TRANSPOPRT LTD, on behalf of the contractor.
The temporary buildings are expected to be demolished within four months. Modern housing complexes for the beneficiaries of the KtiZo programme will then be built on the cleared land. It should be noted that a similar decision was taken earlier for two blocks of flats in Plati, two blocks of flats in the village of Kokkines in Strovolos and five blocks of flats in the government settlements of Agios Eleftherios and Apostolos Andreas in Latsia.
It is recalled that at the beginning of March, the Refugees Committee of the House of Representatives expressed concern about the state of the buildings housing displaced persons from the occupied areas of the island.
In particular, it noted that they were not designed to withstand an earthquake and were generally uninhabitable. The Ministry of Urban Development, which is responsible for repairing these buildings, stated that it was not profitable to repair the houses because they were built with materials that were fifty years old.
There are currently 2,932 houses for Greek Cypriot refugees built on an area of 901,129 m2 owned by Turkish Cypriots. There are ten government settlements in Paphos, seven in Larnaca, eight in Limassol and seven in Nicosia. These properties are managed by a special service set up in 1991. Many of the properties are in very poor condition due to lack of investment.
After long discussions, the Cypriot Minister of the Interior announced that the government will allocate €100 million for the renovation of emergency housing in refugee settlements. The renovation of the dangerous facilities will be carried out in stages. The large-scale project is expected to be completed within 10 years.
The plan drawn up by the Ministry covers 358 housing units. Initially, work will be carried out on 43 buildings that pose a particular risk. Until the project is fully completed, the government intends to allocate leases to needy people.The renovation programme will last for 10 years.
The KtiZo programme divides beneficiaries into three categories:
- Category 1 includes first generation refugees and second, third and fourth generation refugees who have inherited shelters if they have a housing title deed.
- Category 2 includes refugees who have bought flats in housing estates with money allocated by the state.
- Category 3 includes residents who bought their dwellings from refugees.
Residents of shelters who did not receive an apartment in a house built in place of the demolished one can claim compensation, the amount of which depends on the cadastral value of the property and land. If the emergency house is to be repaired rather than demolished, the state will cover the cost.
It should be noted that the Cypriot government has recently revised the conditions of the KtiZO programme.