The former State Fair site in Nicosia will be turned into a park and the SOPAZ facilities into a modern conference and exhibition centre, with plans for both set in motion in 2027, Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said on Monday.
Presenting his ministry’s 2027 budget to parliament, Ioannou said the plans would be carried out with Nicosia municipality, which had submitted its own proposals. In the case of the State Fair site, in the Engomi district of the municipality, those proposals overturned plans to build offices or a hotel there, and earlier plans for government offices.
Budget and housing
The ministry’s 2027 budget amounts to 780 million euros, up 1.5 million euros on 2026. Revenue is projected at 246.3 million euros. Development spending is put at 263.5 million euros, or 33.1 per cent of the total, and ordinary spending at 517.4 million euros, or 65 per cent.
The budget places weight on 11 housing schemes. Ioannou highlighted the construction of 460 homes to be made available at affordable cost, at a total cost of 70 million euros. Overall, he said, construction of 4,000 units has been launched, about 1,200 of them for affordable home ownership.
Planning delays
Ioannou acknowledged delays in publishing the first phase of the Policy Statement, which covers about half of Cyprus, and attributed them to the Department of Environment. He said the department had required environmental studies for most of the plans, which are under way and will take a few months. The Larnaca statement has already been published. Nicosia’s will follow in early January, Limassol’s two months later, and then Paphos’s.
Local Plans, which have been delayed for years, are expected to be published at the end of 2028, he said. The process began three to four years ago, but the plans have not been announced because procedures at the Department of Environment were pending.
Rural roads
Registering rural roads would also help communities that have faced problems for decades. Ioannou said the ideal would be to register rural roads wherever footpaths exist. However, the Law Office of the Republic ruled this would be unconstitutional because it interferes with private property, so the owner’s consent is needed.
Unable to proceed, the ministry issued a circular changing the method of expropriation. “We have already registered 112 roads, compared with 10-15 we registered in previous years,” Ioannou said.
He said there had been a huge response to the incentive to add an extra floor to homes to house owners’ children, with applications being submitted to District Local Government Organisations (DLGOs).
Turkish Cypriot properties
Ioannou said order is being restored in the management of Turkish Cypriot properties and rents are being reviewed. He cited a property in Limassol that was being rented for 30 euros when it should have been rented for 6,000 euros. The rent was revised, he said, because otherwise there would also have been unfair competition with other professionals.
He also told MPs that all the information on complaints about planning matters in Amathus municipality had been gathered, in cooperation with the Limassol DLGO, and sent to the Auditor General.
MPs’ reactions
MPs from all parties criticised delays in housing policy and in dealing with everyday problems. However, they acknowledged the work being done and called for procedures to be speeded up.
The chairman of the House Interior Committee, Aristos Damianou, said AKEL’s focus was on housing, particularly for young couples, who often have trouble getting loans.
DISY Paphos parliament member Nikoleta Konstantinou said housing was becoming one of the country’s biggest social issues for every young person who wants to start a family.
During the session, Ioannou responded to objections from parliament member Michalis Paraskeva. He clarified that he had not meant to suggest Paraskeva’s question about the licensing of a shopping centre in Limassol had ulterior motives.
