A 73-YEAR-OLD pensioner and former British Army serviceman who has been living in an unfinished complex in Paphos, may have to pay in excess of € 5,000 to be connected to mains electricity, although he says he has already paid a connection fee.
John Rowles, has been living with two other families in an unfinished complex of 50 properties in Marathounta with no mains electricity and has been reliant on an expensive and noisy generator which only runs for part of the day.
Following a story in the Cyprus Mail last month, the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) belatedly stepped in to help residents follow the correct procedures so that they could have a mains supply.
Rowles had initially been told that he lives just that bit too far away from his neighbours to be included, and that only they would have access. It now appears that a solution may be possible but it will be costly.
Polis Mouzouris, the assistant area manager of the planning department of the EAC has been helping the residents. But he told the Cyprus Mail: “I believe it will be very expensive for Mr Rowles to be connected to the mains elecricity at his home, as the distance from his house to our equipment is quite far and this will require a lot of cable.”
Also, he said, the EAC would first have to install a pole.
But Rowles says that a long length of cable is onsite already which is suitable.
“The cable is there already from when we were supposed to be connected before and it only needs to reach the pavement line. I don’t see how it could be in the thouands and there’s no way that I could afford that.”
The pensioner added that he wouldn’t want to stand in the way or hold up work which will see his neighbours being connected, but he said he would be unable to pay for the cost of running a generator on his own.This may mean that he will be left without any electricity at all.
The EAC will not provide mains electricity to a property until an electrician has submitted plans of the installations for inspection and approval, which never happened in the case of Paradise Hills. Unbeknown to the residents, the developer provided only a temporary mains supply – which the EAC provides for construction purposes – when residents first moved in two years ago, but this was cut by the EAC a month later once they realised the project had not been finished.
But Rowles said that the EAC had previously received payment from six properties to make connections to the mains supply.
“The EAC was going to put in a pole where our generators are sited, which was fine for my house as well.But now it seems as if they are taking the shortest and cheapest route and placing the pole further away,” he said.
According to Mouzouris, the EAC is completing all the necessary work and then the electrical contractor will take over.
“The electrician is responsible for bringing the supply to the residents of Paradise Hills and they will pay him directly,” he said.
Rowles said that although he had yet to be contacted by the electrician, he was trying to stay positive and was hopeful that a cost-effective solution could be found to connect him to the mains.
The EAC Assistant area manager said he expected the electrical work at the site to be completed within fifteen days.
I wish I’d never bought this property’
FELLOW resident Alastair Nethercott admitted his dreams of a wonderful life in Cyprus had crumbled because of the pressure and stress placed on his family by the terrible conditions at Paradise Hills.
“I wish I’d never bought this property, it’s the reason my wife left me and took our son back to Northern Ireland a year ago,” he said.
Two other families living in the comples also recently returned to Britain because they could not bear the living conditions. The developer, MDB properties, is in the hands of the administrators and its managing director is believed to have fled the island.
The site has been left to deteriorate and serious cracks have started to appear in many of the uncompleted properties and stairways.
” My wife and son left a year ago because of all of the stress and the awful conditions here. I’ve been married for 22 years and this is the worst position I’ve ever been in. I am supposed to provide for my family and I couldn’t even provide electricity,” said Nethercott.
As well as a lack of electricity supply or sewerage facilities, the unfinished complex can only be accessed down a steep sheer track.
Nethercott, who like the other residents has paid in full for his property says his only wish now is for the project to be finished so that he can put it on the market, sell up and leave Cyprus for good.
In another twist,an ITV crew who picked up on story, have been in Paradise Hills this week highlighting the plight of the handful of residents who are living in the deserted, unfinished complex for a popular TV series titled ‘Homes from Hell,’ due for broadcast in the UK next summer.
