MPs vote to strip cabinet of power to grant, lease, or exchange state land

Parliament on Friday voted to strip the cabinet of the power to grant, lease, or exchange state land after the values published recently by the land registry raised suspicions among opposition parties which perceived them as being too low.

The issue surfaced in September when Auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides and MPs censured land registry officials for lowballing the value of one piece of prime real estate in central Nicosia, which from €70m in 2014 was recently re-priced at just over €5m.

The proposal was submitted by MPs from Akel, Diko, Edek, and the Green party.

Akel MP Irini Charalambides who co-authored the proposal, said it was tabled after the low estimates issued by the land registry, especially the land neighbouring the Landmark Hotel (formerly Hilton).

In 2010 the land registry had valued the same plot at €143m, in 2013 at €92.5m, and in 2014 at €70m.

The low value raised suspicions the government intended to sell the plot to one of its own.

The auditor-general cited a few other examples, in particular one in the village of Vasa Kellakiou, Limassol, where a state plot had been valued at €1.76m in 2013. It was slated to be exchanged for a piece of private property.

In 2015 the DLS carried out another valuation, finding the state land was worth €460,000 – a drop of about 75 per cent.

“Our position is that the DLS’ valuations are not credible. From the samples we examined, it appears that their valuations are done on a ‘come what may’ basis,” Michaelides remarked at the time.

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