MPS WERE yesterday pleased to see a reduction of regular expenses in the Communications and Works Ministry’s 2011 budget.
The Committee’s deputy chairman, DIKO’s Angelos Votsis, said he was satisfied with the fact that the ministry had provided a 1.0 per cent reduction in regular expenses and 14.7 per cent increase in development expenses.
Speaking after the meeting, Votsis said Communications Minister Erato Kozakou Marcoullis had responded to all questions posed by MPs and the majority were pleased with what they heard.
“I would like to believe that this ministry does a serious job, that it is a ministry of development and that this year we will have good development figures, which will help the Cyprus economy in its entirety,” said Votsis.
He added that the €7 million reduction in regular expenses was mainly down to a reduction in office expenses, training costs and journeys abroad.
The ministry’s budget amounts to €417.9 million, marking a 3.7 per cent increase from last year when it was €402.9 million.
Presenting the budget, Marcoullis said development expenses would reach €138.2 million – a 14.7 per cent increase from last year. “At a time economic crisis, a 14.7 per cent increase in development expenses is something that will give the Cypriot economy a push, create new job positions and generally bring positive results,” the minister pointed out.
The development expenses, she added, made up 11.5 per cent of the state’s entire budget.
Marcoullis also informed deputies that a new bill for road tax was at its final stages, adding: “There will be a connection between road tax and the matter of carbon emissions.”
Furthermore, the minister said there had been a huge response to the government’s old car withdrawal scheme – which sees the state take cars that are older than 15 years old in return for a fund – but added that the ministry only had the means to satisfy a quarter of the applications made this year. The rest, she said, would be settled in 2011.
Finally, Marcoullis said Nicosia would become “unrecognisable” by the year 2012, in regards to the traffic problem, with Archangelos Avenue – complete with a bus lane – expected to be complete by April 2011.
The creation of six lanes at the entrance of Nicosia – expected to be complete in 2012 – as well as a roundabout by the GSP Stadium, are all expected to ease the traffic problem, said the minister.
