All in the name of prosperity
E DII TO RII A L
It is odd that in the land where court cases and appeals to government decisions, that normally take five to ten years to resolve, the matter of compensation to landowners in Limassol’s Amathus area has dragged on for 53 years and counting.
Owners of the property that has since been unearthed to reveal one of the most important sites of antiquity, including a sunken port that is the delight of divers and underwater archaeologists, rightly staged a protest in front of parliament this week, following similar demonstrations over the years.
Of the 300 families initially affected from the expropriation of land back in 1964, some 40 to 50 households have yet to be compensated for the 80 donums that is pending. The argument seems to be over a 10 mln euro gap, with the state offering 6 mln in compensation and the landowners demanding 16 mln, based on recent valuations and deprivation of use of their properties.
Had the matter been resolved years ago, the amount of compensation paid would have been much closer to what the government department is currently offering, or even less. But the illogical tactic of delaying such payouts, in some cases even after clear court decisions in favour of the plaintiffs, is costing the state much more in penalties and interest, all money raised from the taxpayer.
Such cases are not uncommon in Cyprus, although matters are closed one way or another, within a shorter period of time.
However, what is more worrying is the reason by some to delay payment, and the inability of senior officials to demand accountability from clerks in Land Surveys or Town Planning services, or even the Antiquities Department. The most common fear among the public is that once such expropriated land – sometimes no bigger than a plot – is excavated, structures recorded and artifacts removed, the discovery is earthed over and might end up in private hands after the original owner dies.
On the other hand, seeing the persistence with which some landowners go to other extremes to fasttrack construction permits, often bypassing the Antiquities Department in order to quickly put up a high-rise in the centre of any town, suggests that there is a two-speed approach when it comes to ordinary landowners and a different one when it comes to mega developers, who claim to be contributing to national prosperity.
There is just so much that the Auditor General can investigate when suspicions of corruption (financial or other) arise, especially in cases involving land, the prize possession of all Cypriots.
Apart from the dodgy dealings in the private sector or anything involving government land, who is to say that present or future Cabinet decisions will not overturn an archaeological designation of a site, in order to allow its commercial use? Worse still, who will supervise the actions of any government or Cabinet ministers, changing the status of a national heritage site, all in the name of “economic progress”?