The use of technology is a weapon in the hands of citizens, municipal authorities, the State for a two-way relationship between citizen, citizen and local government or central State, said the Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Kyriakos Kokkinos, who launched the model today Thursday Paphos Citizens Service Center, located in the Stelios Kyriakidis Stadium Parking Lot.
Mr. Kokkinos stated that the State supports such innovative initiatives, noting that the Local Government when it wants to and has the right leadership can grow and run faster even than the State. He was impressed, he said, “both by the simple architecture of the building, its high aesthetics and spatial positioning”.
In relation to the integration of the various databases, the Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy stated that there is a plan from the State, from the Deputy Ministry, in collaboration with the Municipality, to consolidate all the data, in order to create a single point where the citizens' details are registered once, and there is no need for the citizen to suffer for things that the State itself has in its hands.
Subsequently, Mr. Kokkinos congratulated the Mayor and the municipal council of Paphos because they adopt, as he said, the philosophy that the projects must be carried out and that we must dare to make vertical interventions that help civic centrality. He also said that the Citizen Service Center is another example that once again the Mayor and the municipal council are showing that they are leading the way by building the first citizen service center. He also pointed out that the KEP is an interim solution until we go to full digitization.
The Mayor of Paphos Phaidonas Phaidonos said in his greeting that in this pioneering Center, citizens process in an easy and fast way, without any parking problem and with the use of digital technologies, more than 40 cases, such as paying bills, paying taxes, fees and extrajudicial, health certificates, receipt of urban planning permits, etc. In addition to the citizens of Pafos, the Citizens Service Center continued to serve the residents of the regions that participate in the SAPA, since they joined the said Center for purposes of serving the public and services of the Paphos Sewerage Board. He said, among other things, that the KYPE received 24,000 during its seven months of operation. Also at the Citizen Service Center are the services of SAPA, which is another organization with 64,000 customers.
The event started with a brief presentation of the project by the architect in charge of the contracting architectural firm OCD +A Studio Nearchos Theodoulou. Mr. Theodoulou stated that the goal of the study was to design a modern building with high aesthetics to meet the needs of the Municipality of Paphos to serve the citizens of the city. He added that the total cost of the project reached approximately 439,000 euros including mobile furniture. Mr. Theodoulou noted that during the study, the installation of modern digital media was taken into account for the convenience of the citizens.
In the short presentation of the KEP of the Municipality of Paphos, Stelios Sofokleous, in charge of the center, stated that the service to the citizen it takes place at six points within the site staffed by an equal number of officials.
It is noted that the Paphos Citizens Service Center was erected in 2021 at the expense of the Municipality of Paphos which amounted to 439,000 euros in a space made available by the Cyprus Sports Organization.
(KYPE/KP/GBA)
