The need to find solutions for the unused and unused plots in self-housing settlements to help young couples, members of the Parliamentary Committee on Refugees stressed on Tuesday, giving three months to the relevant services to come back with accurate data and solutions on how to allocate these plots.
The MPs also stressed the need to find a way to help couples secure funding to build a house on these plots as many beneficiaries cannot find the resources, leaving them unused.
The Committee returned to the issue for the third time, after it was tabled for an ex officio inquiry following a recommendation by AKEL MPs, members of the Committee. Committee Chairman Nikos Ketteros said at the meeting that the issue was being brought back as it had been raised by MPs of all parties after they had received complaints during their visits to communities that plots of land that had been returned remain vacant despite there being enough demand from beneficiaries.
The director of the Turkish Cypriot Property Management Service, George Mattheopoulos, told the committee that, nationwide, around 170 vacant plots were recorded, while there are also around 500 plots that have been allocated but no houses have been built. He said there is a margin of variation in these numbers due to difficulties in gathering information due to the pandemic.
Mattheopoulos said they have no information as to why no houses were erected on the 500 plots given to beneficiaries, indicating that some may not have been able to secure the financial resources, or may have decided to reside elsewhere without informing the authorities. He also said it is a particularly difficult and time-consuming task to investigate why these plots are vacant, also raising the question of what happens in cases where couples cannot secure resources to build. "Should we come and take them back?" he asked, adding that it is an ethical issue. He also reminded that the concession cannot be made as it stands because the project has been terminated so, he said, it is a matter of political decision from now on as to what kind of management these plots can be given.
Ketteros said they will come back in three months to see what policy decisions were made on the issue, exactly how many plots are unallocated and what has been done on a case-by-case basis.
After the session ended, he said in a statement that "today the government's narrative that it cares, that it is concerned and produces meaningful proposals on housing policy has been shattered." It has been revealed that there are 170 plots of land which had been allocated and returned to the state and another 500, not counting the plots in Limassol district which have been allocated but not utilised by the beneficiaries, he said. "We are talking about 5,000 people who could be housed if these plots, which have remained unused for years, were utilised," he added.
Kettiros also said that at the moment many young people are trapped in rents of €700 while the cost of borrowing for housing purposes in Cyprus is far above the eurozone average. Therefore, he added, apart from programmes, meetings and announcements, the government could more easily utilise these 700 or so plots of land, as well as the sites in the refugee settlements.
For some reasons, he said, some people could not secure loans and these plots were left unused, calling on provincial administrations to reach out to these people and examine each case to discern which ones could be returned.
"It is a matter of political decision as to how they will be used. Our concern is that they be used in the interest of the refugee world, for the housing of young couples."
DISY MP Rita Theodorou Superman said that the concern of the Commission and her party is to satisfy the young couples who are eligible and meet the criteria and are expecting this very important assistance so that they can be housed.
Zacharias Koulias of DIKO said the Commission also asked for a funding programme because today, with the abolition of the Co-operative, one cannot easily get funding. Koulias called on the state, through the Housing Financing Agency and the Land Development Agency, to offer "a reasonable programme" which would provide the new couples with a plot of land but also finance them with a reasonable amount to solve these problems.
Abolition of group cultivation of Turkish Cypriot land
The Committee also discussed the issue of the abolition of group cultivation of Turkish Cypriot land granted by the Custodian to eligible refugees in Larnaca, Aradippou and Kosi, following a recommendation by Mr Koulias.
According to a press release of the Parliamentary Refugee Committee, "the Committee was informed by the Director of Turkish Cypriot Property Management about the decision of the Council of Ministers to write off for the years 2020 and 2021 the debts of beneficiaries who held Turkish Cypriot or Khali land for agricultural purposes."
Mr. Koulias said during the session that he registered the issue after he became the recipient of many complaints from elderly beneficiaries of the group farming scheme that they did not receive their dividend which is about €150 per year and learned that the scheme was cut by the Turkish Cypriot Property Management Service. He recommended that this program should continue until 2024 when the three-year agreement expires and if the Service decides that it will divide this land, which is about 2,000 stairs, into lots to inform these people so that they too can claim a piece.
Mattheopoulos said that this logic of group farming where the Service redistributes income must end. He added that they will gladly look at the issue with all social sensitivity and if these people at the end of the offer are eligible to get a lot, they will be given priority.
Mr. Koulias said afterwards in statements that for this group cultivation in Larnaca there was a list of beneficiaries of refugees, and many families who had been affected by the Turkish invasion.
"Suddenly, they had the idea to stop and confiscate the money, a fund of €80,000, completely illegally and arbitrarily," he said. He also said that while some big farmers were offered to cultivate this land, the Cabinet decided to give away the rent because of the pandemic.
The commission's request, he said, is that those who gave away the money (the rent) from their pockets and that this €80,000 be distributed directly to the beneficiaries, who are vested under a 1991 law.
Asked about the number of beneficiaries, Koulias said that there are two group farms, in Kosi and Aradippou, and that the Commission asked for the list of beneficiaries.
Source: CNA
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