Investigation over sewerage levy

AUDITOR-general Chrystalla Yiorkadji has ordered an investigation after Nicosia residents kicked up a stink over a new toll for the installation of sewage pipes.

The levy, which translates into some £30 million, was imposed by the Nicosia Sewerage Board (NSB), despite the fact the affected inhabitants already pay for maintenance of the system.

The pipes have to be laid because of the re-asphalting of several main roads – of a total length of 800km – across the capital.

Normally, the tariff for such a project should be payable either by the concerned municipality or the Department of Public Works. The fact that residents are being asked to contribute to the NSB has raised more than a few eyebrows.

Though the NSB is supposedly an autonomous body, in reality its board is comprised of the mayors of the various Nicosia municipalities and their councillors.

There is a sneaking suspicion that this method of payment was engineered on the quiet by the powers that be so as to exonerate the municipalities themselves – with the municipal elections just around the corner, new taxes are the last thing voters want to hear about.

Given this unorthodox method, the impression has been created that municipalities did not budget for these works in time, deciding instead to slip in another tax through the back door.
The Auditor-general, whose job is to keep an eye on public sector finances, now wants to establish whether the levy was imposed arbitrarily – and therefore illegally.

She was not immediately available for comment yesterday.

The new levy is the latest in a list that has been growing steadily in recent years, with home owners in the capital paying up to £500 a year to their local municipality.

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