Building permits surged by 150% in June as local authorities rushed to clear a backlog before transferring responsibility from municipalities and district administration offices to the newly established district self-governance organizations (EOAs.)
According to the Cyprus Statistical Service (CySTAT), the number of building permits authorised by the municipal authorities and the district administration offices during June 2024 stood at 1,528 compared with just 610 in June last year.
The total value of these permits reached €781.6 million and the total area 594.9 thousand square metres. These building permits provide for the construction of 2,772 dwelling units.
During the first six months of 2024, a total of 4,782 building permits were issued compared to 3,608 in the same period last year; an increase of 32.5%.
The total value of these permits increased by 44.4% to €2.04 billion and their total area by 46.5%. The number of dwelling units recorded an increase of 44.4%.
Planning permit disputes & brown envelopes
According to media reports, disputes between municipalities and the EOAs have revealed that one of the major issues is issuing planning permits.
On Thursday, Greens MP and House interior affairs committee member Stavros Papadouris highlighted the urgent need for reform in how building permits are processed.
Papadouris alluded to corrupt practices, hinting at the use of brown envelopes to fast-track permit applications. He pointed out that pushing permits ahead of others in the queue through unethical means was a well-known problem.
The MP cited instances where applications submitted just three months earlier were given priority over those that had been waiting for a year.
“We must shift our mindset and avoid reverting to pre-reform practices. I’ll stop here to avoid discussing bribery within certain services,” Papadouris said.
The committee also heard reports of permit applications being lost while being transferred from previous urban planning authorities to the EOAs.
Meanwhile, the chairman of Cyprus’ Scientific and Technical Chamber (ETEK), Constantinos Constanti, confirmed that these delays in licensing were causing backlogs and creating opportunities for illegal construction.
Constanti criticized the interior ministry’s poorly timed building amnesty, which added 15,000 applications to an already overwhelming backlog of 30,000 pending cases. He also noted the lack of communication between the ministry and ETEK as a significant issue.
He emphasized the need for a standardized approach among EOAs, warning against each one operating independently with different procedures.
Constanti also raised concerns about unsafe buildings, a responsibility that neither the municipalities nor the EOAs want to take on due to the high costs involved. A proposal was submitted to delay the transfer of this responsibility by a year, in the hope of finding a solution to cover these costs for the EOAs, which are intended to be self-financing.
