Citizen Service Centre opens

PRESIDENT of the Republic Tassos Papadopoulos opened the first Citizen Service Centre (KEP) in Nicosia yesterday, which will start operating on Monday.

In his speech, Papadopoulos described KEP as an important step towards modernisation and public service.

“We are promoting a much more effective new operative method of the public sector, which is also closer and friendlier towards the public.”

The President stressed that KEP will not serve as a complaint centre for the public but as a helpful service centre.

Government Spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said yesterday that aim of the project was to avoid bureaucracy and help the public.

“It is about attempting to simplify procedures and accommodate the public and about realising the President of the Republic’s commitments in his governing programme.”

He also said that at least two more centres will open in Cyprus within 2006 and that when the scheme is complete, the public will be served centrally, essentially simplifying bureaucracy.

KEP will offer citizens services from 64 departments of public services and Chrysostomides says that the services will keep on increasing. Services will include the issuing of birth and death certificates, the issuing and renewal of drivers’ licences and the issuing and renewal of passports.

The centre is situated on the corner between Kyriacos Matsi street and Katsonis street in Ayioi Omologites, Nicosia and will be operating from Monday to Friday, 8.00am to 5.00pm.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.