On Tuesday 12 November, the Cypriot Ministry of the Interior announced the signing of a contract for the demolition of two apartment blocks in the government village of Platis, in the Aglandzia Municipality of Nicosia.
The contract was certified by Kyriakos Koundouros, Director of the Department of Urban 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 cost of the works is estimated at 34,920 euros plus VAT. The emergency buildings are located at 6 Carpasia Street and 8 Boufavento Street. All the work is expected to be completed within four months. The construction of modern housing complexes for the beneficiaries of the KtiZo programme will then begin on the cleared land. It should be noted that the demolition of the two apartment blocks in Plati follows the demolition of two apartment blocks in the village of Kokkines in Strovolos and five apartment blocks in the government settlements of Agios Eleftherios and Apostolos Andreas in Latsia.
It should be recalled that at the beginning of March, the House Committee on Refugees 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 rent them out to people in need. 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.
- 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 shelter is to be repaired rather than demolished, the cost will be borne by the state.