Paphos is caused by the recent decision of the cabinet to increase the price of drinking water provided by the Department of Water Development (TAY) to all Municipalities and Communities across Cyprus from next October.
According to the decision, the price of water increases from € 0.64 cents / ton to € 0.82 cents / ton, an increase of more than 28%. This decision is considered unfair for Paphos consumers consider that by increasing they subsidize the price of water for other consumers. Until now in Paphos the price of water was the lowest, so from time to time there were statements in favor of the single price, something that was always rejected by consumers but also by the institutions and groups of Paphos.
Antonis Trakkidis, Municipal Councilor of Geroskipou, Movement for the Salvation of Paphos, in an article explains why the decision of the Council of Ministers to increase the price of water is unfair for Paphos:
“The increase, aimed at the implementation of a pan-Cypriot single selling price of water, is considered completely unfair for Paphos where the production of drinking water costs much less than for the rest of Cyprus. The cost of production and transportation of drinking water, e.g. from Kornos and Tersefanou to the water reservoirs of Nicosia is much higher despite the cost of production and transport of drinking water from the refinery of Asprokremmos to the water reservoirs of the Municipality of Geroskipos, the Municipality of Paphos, Natas, Anarita, Chora. ο.κ.
There is a claim that drinking water is a “public good” for this and the price charged by the TAY must be uniform. In essence, however, the Paphos consumer pays the increased cost of production and transportation of water supply to other areas of Cyprus, since the province of Paphos has very close, sufficient reserves of drinking water and moreover does not use expensive desalination water.
But let us assume that water is a “public good” and that all citizens of the state must be charged the same price as they claim in Nicosia. The questions are many and reasonable:
- The right to free higher education in state universities, why not also a “public good” and cost the same for the Paphites, as for the people of Nicosia, the people of Limassol or even the people of Larnaca? Why should Pafitis pay a studio for accommodation in Nicosia or Limassol at least € 500 per month? Why should a Paphite student be forced to maintain himself at an additional cost and not eat every day from the same pot that his parents eat? Why not feed and / or gasoline for the Paphites, to visit, if nothing else, once or twice a month their parents? Assume that free higher education is a privilege of all but the Paphites?
- Paphos has been struggling for decades to secure a state university, a modern highway connecting Paphos with Polis Chrysochous, a marina to attract high-standard tourism, an anchorage for cruise ships to approach and disembark. Are the above again not included in the “public goods”? The other cities in free Cyprus, however, have been enjoying them for years.
- Furthermore, why is Paphitis, despite having an airport in Paphos, forced to travel up to Larnaca airport for a flight to Athens? Why not subsidize the 300 km go – come to Larnaca and the lost working hours of the Paphites? Why should the cost of water be the same for all Cypriots while the cost of a flight to the “national center” should “cost the nightingale cuckoo” for Pafitis?
It is now clear that Paphos is a timeless kicks of governments in Nicosia. “Claiming equal treatment by our province must, therefore, enter a different phase.”
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