Both the Provincial Department of Town Planning and the Municipality of Limassol (in its capacity as the Town Planning Authority) are under great pressure from those interested in issuing pending Town Planning permits during this transitional period due to concerns about what the new licensing regime brings the reform of Local Self-Government, by transferring this power to the District Self-Government Organization (known by its Greek acronym EOA).
At the District Office of the Department of Town Planning and Housing in Limassol, a number of around 3,500 town planning applications are pending, the Department's District Director, Iraklis Achniotis, told "Entrepreneurial Limassol", adding that the examination of applications continues as normal.
He pointed out that again this time in view of a big change like the one of the Local Government Reform, just like a while ago with the implementation of a new VAT policy, the pressure on the part of applicants and researchers is very high. "Everyone is demanding immediate processing of their applications creating an unbearable situation for the officials of the District Office of the Town Planning Department, which is particularly difficult to deal with as it adds extra pressure and stress to the staff," he added.
Regarding the next day with the operation of the District Self-Government Organization, Iraklis Achniotis expressed confidence that the conditions (combination of different groups of employees with different mentalities and approaches, implementation of new application management systems, correspondence, organization of infrastructure, equipment and organization of new offices of the Licensing Directorate), which will require a huge effort from all contributors as well as the public will be needed for the change to stand and be effective.
It should be noted that the EOA Licensing Division will be housed on the 2nd floor of INTERORIENT's THALIA building, on Thalias Street near Franklin Roosevelt. We were told by the responsible Department of the Municipality of Limassol, which until the operation of the EOA is also an Urban Planning Authority, that permits are still being issued and in fact there is an increased number of applications for them and a lot of pressure, since there is concern due to the upcoming changes. Around 900 applications are pending in the Municipality of Limassol.
It should be noted that both the Provincial Department of Urban Planning and the Municipality of Limassol inform the responsible Ministry in writing every month about the pending applications. Satisfied with the course of implementation of the Local Government reform by the Temporary Coordinating Council of the EOA of Limassol, said the Minister of Interior Konstantinos Ioannou, after a recent meeting, indicating that "there will definitely be difficulties at the beginning" and that this is a matter of adjustment.
The Minister of Interior stated that in the area of Licensing, from July 1, 2024, staff from three different Authorities, the Department of Urban Planning and Housing, the Municipalities and the District Administrations, will be under one roof. He added that these are three different cultures that will carry with them all the pending applications and therefore there may be a period of adjustment at the beginning, adding that he does not consider the difficulties that will arise as problems.
In response to a question about the personnel to be assigned to the EOA, the Minister of Interior stated that the issue has been resolved, emphasizing that more personnel will be assigned than requested. He indicated that the detachment of the staff will be for 18 months and then, if the employee so wishes, will have the option to remain at the EOA. He reminded that since last October, a process of simplifying the procedures in the Department of Town Planning and Housing has been underway, in order to reduce the time for examining applications. He concluded by saying that the combination of recruitment and the simplification of the procedures, will allow to examine much more applications than until now.
