Queue nightmare in Paphos government offices

A NUMBER of government offices in Paphos are still short staffed despite assurances from the state that these problems would be resolved.

A lack of staff in both the town planning department and the land registry offices in particular has meant that the public have been subject to continuing delays and long queues.

According to local MP Fidias Sarikas, considerable pressure to improve staffing levels was put on the relevent government departments by Paphos authorites months ago, but little has changed.

He said that although the town planning department received a few new staff, the land registry were given none.

The MP added there are long queues at the land registry department every day.

“This is not just caused by beaurocracy and red tape, but also by a severe shortage of staff,” he said, adding that the number of new employees at town planning was still insufficient to make any real difference

Sarikas added that he will meet with the district manager of the land registry to discuss the matter and try to come up with a solution.

In the meantime, Nicolas Lemonaris, on behalf of the Association of Estate Agents, said Paphos was being discriminated against.

“Other towns are afforded a better service provided to them from the land registry department,” he said, calling on the general public and local officials to react in a ‘dynamic way’ to get results.

Dinos Demitriou is a 34-year-old professional working within the construction industry in Paphos. He said that regular weekly and sometimes daily visits to the town planning department and the land registry offices are required as part of his job. He describes them as “hell on earth”.

“The staff do their best but they are just overwhelmed,” he said. “The only way to get anything done is to go to the offices really early, but even then there are generally people waiting, especially at the land registry.

“The government really must do something to change the situation. Procedures take far too long to follow, and staff are at breaking point.”

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