Clarifications are given by the 'Province of Larnaca regarding a publication in a daily newspaper, about the reactions of a certain businessman regarding the issuance of a building permit for the construction of a power plant in an area of the province.
Odysseas Chatzistefanou issued a written announcement regarding a publication of the newspaper "O Phileleftheros" dated January 29 with the title "Out of control businessman with the prefect of Larnaca" . In the announcement it states that it "rejects as unfounded and without any basis the reaction described".
The 'Province clarifies that it has the authority to examine in its entirety any development after consult with all the Competent Departments/Services and set the conditions under which it would be acceptable for an applicant to proceed with the implementation of the development.
"This means that the Prefect may impose additional conditions or even require a new consultation of the applicant with any Department, including the Department of Urban Planning and Housing, to modify the conditions it set before the issuance of the Building Permit,'' the announcement states.
Regarding the complaining company, it is clarified that it applied for a Separation Permit on 5/5/21 and the permit was issued on 9/7/22. The application for a Building Permit was also submitted by the company on 13/8/21, but the company itself asked the staff of the Department of Buildings of the Provincial Administration of Larnaca not to proceed with any examination of the permit until it is secured by the company Amending Town Planning Permit in continuation of the original Town Planning Permit he had already secured.
This permit, it is stated, anyway it was not complete, "since there were no studies that the company was obliged to submit together with its application for a Building Permit and it did not submit them".
The company, the announcement continues, came back on 11/30/21 and submitted an Amending Application for a Building Permit to the application it submitted on 8/13/21 along with the simultaneous submission of the studies that were absent from the original application.
It is added that "after the submission of the amending application for a building permit on 30/11/21, its examination began in parallel with the examination of the application for the division of land that was already under consideration. It is noted that the application for the separation permit remained at a standstill at the Technical Services for some time, due to the company's objection against EAC's demand for the construction of its substation within the development.
Ultimately "the company's request for non establishment of an EAC substation was approved by the Authority's letter dated February 23, 2022 and received by the District Administration on March 9, 2022.
According to the announcement, the Provincial Administration of Larnaca, during the examination of the application for a Building Permit, took into account all the opinions of the involved Departments/Services that were secured during the consultation for the purposes of issuing the Planning Permit.
But on the basis of the conditions set in the Town Planning Permits issued by the Department of Town Planning and Housing, he had an obligation to secure the final opinions of the Environmental Authority, the Fire Service, the Department of Labor Inspection, the Police and the Department of Public Works.
He also adds that the Department of Environment in its Opinion, which was included in the issued Urban Planning Permit, set as a condition that before the issuance of the Building Permit the Company would have to satisfy specific essential conditions set by the Department itself.
"Therefore, the District Administration on 9/30/22, after being informed by the Company that it fulfilled all its obligations to the Department of Environment, forwarded a relevant letter to the specific Department which responded with a letter dated 11/1122», it is stated.
For the report that there was no information from the company or its Legal Advisors, it is indicated that the Department of Buildings of the Provincial Administration was in constant contact with Project Manager at least 3 times a week from May 2021. In addition, it should be noted that there was also a telephone conversation between the businessman and the District Administration on 6/6/22, during which both the procedure that was followed and the stage at which the examination of his applications was were sufficiently and clearly explained to him.< /p>
Added also that on 1/18/23 there was renewed communication with the company's lawyer.
It is reported that the Vassilikos Community Coordination Committee has also reacted to the project and that a new meeting will be held with the President of the Republic.
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Source: KYPE
