Paphos could become a good example of cooperation with state services for the implementation of construction projects, Auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides said on Friday.
Following a meeting with Paphos Mayor, Phedonas Phedonos, and the chairman of the Variations and Claims Commission (KEA), Stratis Matheou, Michaelides said that all projects currently underway in Paphos were progressing at an “extremely intensive pace”. Some changes and delays, he said, were normal.
“Paphos will lead by example on how such a close cooperation of a contracting authority with the competent state agencies can bring the desired result,” Michaelides said.
As regards changes to construction projects, he said they should be “limited to the necessary” and if they occur, costs should always be reasonably estimated.
“Changes and demands after contract signing was for years the main public money grabbing-tool both in Paphos – in the contracts of the Paphos Sewerage Board (Sapa) and in other districts where such projects were carried out – mainly outside of central government,” Michaelides said.
He said Paphos municipality was in close cooperation both with the audit office and KEA, which as of April 2016.
Phedonos said that at the moment, nine construction projects were being carried out in Paphos, co-funded either by the EU or the government, whose total estimated cost is €33m including all approved changes.
He said that cooperation with state agencies and KEA was important as they all have the same goal, to see these projects completed within the “proper and legal cost”.
Paphos found itself in the centre of attention some two years ago, when the high-profile scandal concerning contracts of Sapa and has seen the downfall of Paphos mayor Savvas Vergas and the head of the sewerage board, Eftychios Malekides.
Vergas and Malekides, were jailed in 2015 for six years after they pleaded guilty to bribery and money laundering, offences committed during construction of the sewerage system, between 1999 and 2014.
Former Edek MP Fidias Sarikas, who also served as Paphos mayor between 1997 and 2006, stood trial for the same case, as he was implicated by other suspects. The court proceedings concerning Sarikas, and former Paphos municipal councillors Giorgos Michaelides, Efstathios Efstathiou, Vasos Vasiliou and Giorgos Shailis, came to an end last month with the criminal court set to announce its verdict on March 31.
