PRESIDENT Tassos Papadopoulos stuck to his guns on allowing refugees to sell their occupied building coefficient in 13 pledges on his housing policy plans, which he made at a news conference yesterday.
The incumbent emphasised that the new commitments would not render the current housing policy invalid, but constituted an advancement of the strategy.
The commitments included, among other things, new housing plans for refugees and non-refugees alike, speeding up the process for the issuing of title deeds as well as measures that would encourage people to move away from towns, thus aiding the development of rural areas.
He also committed himself to increase funding for the Central Agency for Equal Distribution of Property from €28 million to almost €65 million as well as raising the subsidy of interest on loans from 3.5 per cent to five per cent.
But it was the 13th commitment which stole the limelight, however, which Papadopoulos dubbed as “ground-breaking and revolutionary”.
He again pledged to allow refugees and non-refugees who own land in the north to sell building coefficient on occupied properties to developers in the south.
“For the first time since the invasion, the commitment attributes use-value to the occupied areas,” claimed Papadopoulos.
“This is not a compensation measure. When the Cyprus problem is solved and refugees return to their homes the building coefficient that has been sold will not be subtracted from the total value of the property.”
Papadopoulos then put forth a legal bill that had been drafted following studies by experts in the field.
“I want to make it clear that this is a political decision that seeks to do justice to those who have been deprived of their land in the north,” uttered the President.
“I am sad that this long overdue decision had not been taken by the state earlier,” he added.
Papadopoulos refused to accept that his proposition is to the benefit of major land developers.
The proposition was rubbished as “rash” and part of the pre-election “subterfuge” by AKEL spokesman Andros Kyprianou earlier last week.
An official of the Technical Chamber ETEK Linos Chrysostomou said that if the scheme’s net was too wide, it could lead to the total collapse of the planning system in Cyprus.
“If the total coefficient was transferred, it would mean the total collapse of the current planning system,” he told the Mail.
In remarks made later in the day Presidential candidate Ioannis Kasoulides wandered “why President Papadopoulos did not come forward with the proposal earlier,” adding that “if the Cyprus problem were solved, the matter will be pointless.”
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