Ministry to pay 255 million TL in electricity bills

THE Finance Ministry has agreed to pay 255 million TL that 23 municipalities owe to the Cyprus Turkish Electricity Authority (KıbTek) in unpaid bills.

The Finance Ministry will pay the amount in instalments over a 120-month period, KıbTek board of directors chairman Turan Büyükyılmaz said, as part of a new protocol to be signed.

It will then recoup the costs by deducting the same amount from the central government grant made to the municipalities.

Mr Büyükyılmaz said that they had overcome the problem to a “large extent” with the removal of the debts of “irrigation unions” from a previous protocol prepared in 2014.

He said a separate solution is also being sought for mosques, which collectively owe Kıb-Tek three years’ worth of bills totalling six million TL.

A meeting held with İbrahim Benter, the head of the Cyprus Foundations’ Administration (Evkaf), which oversees most mosques, was “extremely constructive and positive” Mr Büyükyılmaz said.

He expressed his belief that the problems related to the accumulated electricity debts of the mosques affiliated with Evkaf will be resolved.

“I feel that the Evkaf administration will also show the necessary sensitivity about the mosques’ electricity debts from now on,” Mr Büyükyılmaz said.

PEOPLE who went to the Cyprus Turkish Electricity Authority (Kıb-Tek) office in Lefkoşa to pay their bills on Tuesday had to wait in line for hours in 40C heat, due to a shortage of staff.

“There are three people working in a section where there should be five or six cashiers,” one hot and bothered bill payer said.

“When one of them goes to lunch, there are only two people left working. No-one thinks of us, we have to wait for hours in this heat just to avoid being without electricity. We want the authorities to look into this and find a solution to this problem.”