With the days counting down and the Presidential Elections just a breath away, since now all of Cyprus has officially entered the final stretch for the Presidential handover, the outgoing Government is making an effort to close pending issues, which have occupied the previous period. One of them is the big issue of asphalt, which, especially in the second five years of the government of Nikos Anastasiadis, was a topic of discussion, not a few times, and a few days before Nikos Anastasiadis left the Presidency, it seems that it remains open.< /p>
Although the outgoing President of the Republic tried, even at the end of his term, to find a solution for one part of the problem, meeting the residents of Vasilikos and listening again to the problems they face, another quite large chapter of the specific issue, still remains open. Specifically, regarding the relocation of an asphalt plant in Mitseros, despite the efforts that the local authorities had made from time to time, so that their requests would be heard, until today, a few days before Nikos Anastasiadis handed over the baton to his successor, still no the meeting, which the President of the Republic himself had previously announced.
The local authorities of the Mitserou area did not stand idly by. After the last hot August, during which the residents had camped on the site where it had been decided to move the bituminous unit, as a result of which the community leaders Mitseros and Argokipias were arrested for preventing the excavator from starting its work, the President of the Republic came forward and he instructed that work be stopped until he meets with a delegation of local authorities and the initiative group to promote the theme, “Communities in Action”. However, six months have passed since then, Nikos Anastasiadis is ready to leave the Presidential Palace permanently and no move has yet been made to close this particular meeting.
For their part, the community leaders of the affected villages had written a letter and sent it to the President, last November, repeating their problem and asking that the meeting with the President be fixed immediately. Although the period of time when the letter was sent, it could be considered safe, given that there remained another three months until the Presidential and another one until the final withdrawal, nevertheless there was no movement to show an intention to set a meeting. To this end, the same letter was sent again in January, as a reminder that this particular chapter is still open.
“We had no progress with the Government. We sent two letters from the President that we are ready, following his order, which we had at the meeting at the Presidential Office, to record the problems and proposals to solve them, but we have no news. This was decided on August 26. The President instructed the services to cooperate with our technical advisor, to record the disturbing activities in the area and to give suggestions to solve the problems and to meet again in two months. Unfortunately, we didn't have such a meeting”, Mitserou community leader Andreas Kyriakou indicated to REPORTER.
However, due to the time frame, there is a possibility, which is the most visible scenario, that the President of the Republic will not have time to set the much-desired meeting, which means that the specific problem is automatically transferred to his successor.
< p>“Transferring the problem to the next President is not a solution. We are saying to present to him our study on the subject, which he himself ordered to be done and could be orbited by this Government some solutions for the chronic problems and have his stamp. We will wait for the next one to come out and we will go find him and deliver our findings to him”. of the urban planning permit, in order to stop the work in the area and to find another place to move the asphalt unit.
“We went to the Court, however, due to workload, its decision has been pending since October 26, regarding the cancellation of the urban planning permit. We await this decision. The Judge appointed us to go to the Court, exceptionally for the interim decree, on February 15, to hear the decision”.
The residents of Vasilikos hold a small basket
Despite the fact that at the meeting held in the Vasilikos area the previous Sunday, there was a positive atmosphere and there was a mood and will to initiate some solutions to the problem, since in that area too there is a problem with the transport of asphalt units, the residents keep a small basket for the next moves of the Government.
“We know that it is his last weeks as President. He did everything possible to help us, but we do not trust the officials of the Ministries, the people who handle the issues. We have seen them insist on issues, but we will also insist on our issues, for health and safety. If we do not catch up, we will seek with the new President to continue”, indicated the leader of the community of Kalavasos, Lefteris Fokas.
