‘Too early to judge’ success of local govt reform

It is “too early to judge” whether or not last year’s sweeping government reforms were a success, Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said on Sunday.

He said there have been “various issues” experienced in the year since the reform was implemented, but that the government had “expected that some problems would exist due to the size of the reform”.

That notwithstanding, he highlighted the fact that with the creation of five district governments, “from 46 authorities giving planning permission, we now have five”.

As such, he said the issue now is “a matter of familiarisation with the new status quo”, though he did note that “beyond that, we are observing some other problems which we expect to be resolved over time”.

He said the government has “implemented 22 measures” to ease the process of planning applications, and that “experienced and qualified personnel” have been hired to work on the matter, but stressed that the matter is now in the hands of district governments themselves.

“District governments, as now administratively and financially independent organisations, should already proceed with improvements, whether this concerns planning permission or other issues which concern them,” he said.

On the reform as a whole, he said the process was “not ideal” and that “much still needs to be done legislatively”, but that “this is certainly better than what existed previously”.

“I believe that in the long run, it will be beneficial to local communities precisely for the reason that we united too many authorities under five district governments, and this concerns water supply, sanitation, and planning permission,” he said.

Despite this, he said, the reforms will “be very beneficial for local communities”.

He said the government as “now created networks where experienced staff will soon be hired”, and that this will “give them the flexibility and opportunity to be able to carry out their work in a much better way”.

“We had recently submitted proposals which were adopted for the duties of the deputy mayors, we are trying to resolve various other issues, and our goal is, as we have stated, to see what will happen with the deputy mayors, as well as to evaluate whether even more mergers of municipalities need to happen,” he said.

Paphos district governor Charalambos Pittokopitis also briefly spoke on the matter, saying that issues he had raised “are being raised with the support of central government, and, in particular, the interior ministry”.

He thanked Ioannou and his ministry for his support, and for renewing the secondment of urban planning department employees who were sent to work for district governments “to support us until we move forward” with hiring permanent staff in those roles.