INTERIOR Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis yesterday said there was not much he could do over the construction of a new church that many fear will overshadow the ancient Ayia Paraskevi church in Nicosia.
The Town Planning Department has issued a permit for the new church and the Strovolos municipality has no choice now but to give the okay for construction to go ahead.
“The Interior Minister has no right to intervene for a town planning permit to be issued or withdrawn without reason,” Sylikiotis said yesterday.
He explained that a town planning permit could only be withdrawn when proper procedure had not been followed.
However, the minister has asked the department to prepare a report so that he could examine the procedure that was followed.
Ayia Paraskevi is one of the oldest churches in Nicosia, built some 500 years ago, and is tucked into the corner of a sizeable plot of land next to the Central Bank building and overlooked by the large head offices of the Bank of Cyprus.
It is also surrounded by numerous office and apartment buildings and the grounds of a nearby hotel.
The Strovolos municipality opposed the move, but is nevertheless obliged by law to issue a building permit after town planning gives the green light.
Expressing his personal view, Strovolos Mayor Savvas Eliophotou said there are not many monuments like the Ayia Paraskevi church, adding “I think maybe we should find other solutions.”
He said the area was already overburdened with buildings and traffic and that was something the town planning department should have taken into consideration.
Green Party deputy George Perdikis said the Interior Minister should have intervened before the permit was issues.
Perdikis said a traffic study had not been carried out and no environmental impact assessment had been done in an area with antiquities, numerous services and heavy traffic.
“All these are aspects that allow the minister, in our opinion, to withdraw the permit and ask for the issue to be examined,” Perdikis said.
Such landmarks cannot be surrounded with walls, he added.
A group opposing the decision will hold a protest on Sunday at 10am at the Ayia Paraskevi courtyard. The group, which can also be found on social network Facebook, has so far received the support of 3,707 people.
