Looks like legalised robbery all around
ON THE subject of “legalised robbery” (Cyprus Today, April 7), I am absolutely amazed that 30 months on from the delivery of water from Turkey to North Cyprus that none of the issues of distribution have been resolved.
For a project costing $537 million and using state-of-the-art technology, it is incredible that the project was not contracted on a “build, operate and transfer” model instead of leaving the distribution to the end user botched by individual municipalities with zero knowledge or knowhow.
Anyway, the issue is surrounded by so much complication that I cannot foresee a completion scheduled for any time soon, but charging for services that are not provided is criminal — as with charging for street lighting that does not exist!
However, the one municipality that I have faith in is Tatlısu Municipality, headed by Hayri Orçan, which has not taken advantage of the chaos surrounding the distribution of the water in order to unfairly enrich itself at the expense of the public it “serves”.
In a neighbouring municipality, demands have gone out for payments, particularly targeting expats, for sums in excess of 5,000TL for the “infrastructure intallation” when that figure is less than half for TRNC and Turkish citizens — unacceptable discrimination! Furthermore, in the case of non-compliance, residents have been threatened with a ban on tankered water delivery.
The situation is further exacerbated by tanker owners, fearing that they will lose out on their easy living selling our natural resources, charging exorbitant prices, in some cases up to 20TL per tonne. In the meantime, billions of cubic metres of water is running out of Geçitköy reservoir into the Mediterranean . . .
So, “legalised robbery” all around; no checks, no balances, no control, no accountability and no customer care.
Who is, ultimately, the one and only organisation responsible for delivering this end of the contract? The Transport and Public Works Ministry? If not, shouldn’t it be? Altan Houssein, Küçük Erenköy