The government has pulled a bill that would have granted the cabinet the power to decide the sale of idle state land, interior minister Constantinos Petrides told MPs on Monday.
The bill is being nixed after it failed to garner the necessary support in parliament.
Petrides made the reveal in the House during a discussion of his ministry’s budget for 2018.
Back in October, opposition MPs had objected to the government bill, which they said gave the administration carte blanche to dispense of state property as it saw fit.
Deputies had been handed a list of 37 plots slated for sale.
In total, the earmarked state land amounted to around two million square meters. Among the tracts listed were the former British bases Berengaria housing estate in Limassol preferential lots in Pissouri and Yeroskipou, land next to the interior ministry’s premises in Nicosia, the state fairs grounds in Engomi, and large plots in Aglandja.
The value of all the land was estimated at €1 billion.
MPs argued that when the government legislation was initially tabled, the stated aim was to sell land to the Central Bank as a means of paying down government debt.
But this reason no longer applied, they said, since the government had in the meantime reversed the decision to sell to the Central Bank.
Referring to the list of plots handed to MPs, Petrides said it was not a binding list but rather an ‘indicative’ list, compiled by a private firm that had been commissioned by the government to carry out a study.
More recently, finance minister Harris Georgiades suggested that the lands in question could be put to use in the so-called ‘Solidarity Fund’ which is geared at compensating – partially – bailed-in depositors and bondholders.
Asked about this on Monday, Petrides said this proposal was now only theoretical, as it is not backed up by any legislative framework.
“Should the proposal be re-examined at some future date, that’s another story,” he said.
Akel’s Eleni Mavrou, chair of the House interior committee, welcomed the interior ministry’s decision to withdraw the bill.
“In our opinion, this is vindication for those who objected to this rushed and haphazard sale, or rather selling off, of state property,” she said.
Opposition MPs had suggested that some of the proposed land sales were geared at serving private special interests such as developers.
