The Municipal Party «Free Kythera» issued a press release in October 2024, criticizing the Municipal Authority for the delays and the way public works are managed on the island. It notes the overcharging of sewerage and the lack of transparency in studies, while expressing concern about the aesthetics and impact of some projects on settlements. It also refers to the need to cover the energy costs of desalination through renewable energy sources and expresses concern about new drilling. It is concerned about the closed Tourism Conference and calls for greater inclusion in tourism development. Read the release below:
FREE CYPRUS
Press Release - October 2024
In advance, let our fellow citizens forgive us for the constant reminder of the EC proposals that the competent authorities are belatedly putting forward as if they were discovering gunpowder. But these people are going crazy, metropolitan! Soon they will announce that planning is needed, that drilling hurts, no to partisanship, the City should not be a one-man authority, etc. Do you think they'll organize a beach volleyball tournament?
ON PUBLIC WORKS
We thank the mayor for the update on the progress of public works. In regards to the ones on the list (and not the other 13 that he's... keeping them for a surprise):
- Drainage of the Southern part of Kythera. We have many times raised questions which have never been answered. The most important is «why is the project in Kythera costing 3 times the national average?» Of course we will monitor the work in every legal way, but we believe it is never too late for a reasonable explanation.
- Restoration of Mitato Community Buildings and Restoration of the English River School. We hope this time work will actually begin. We believe that the management of the buildings should be given jointly to the local Municipalities and local Associations, under the supervision of the Municipality.
- New desalinations. We are happy for any form of water collection/production as long as it means moving away from the destructive practice of drilling. We stress for the umpteenth time the necessity of covering the energy costs of operating desalination from renewable energy sources. We have often asked questions about the quality of the studies and projects in Agia Pelagia and Diakofti, which have never been answered, the most important being the need to publish the budgets and technical descriptions in order to remove the scandal, as it seems that the same company is supplying the same desalination plants at higher prices on the islands of the Saronic Gulf than elsewhere.
- Redevelopment of Avlaimonas. The upgrading of public spaces in all settlements is urgent. However, this study has been carried out using procedures that we are opposed to, the result is a proposal that is inappropriate to the natural and historic built environment of the settlement and we believe that it will damage its character.
- New drilling. We insist on the gradual limitation of drilling (in accordance with the water masterplan), and we are even more opposed to the drilling of new wells. We would like to inform you that after the end of the tourist season and without rain in Karavas, the supply of the Keramari tap doubled, a phenomenon that can be explained by the reduction of pumping from the drilling in Diakopoulianika (the extension of which was refused by the inhabitants of Karavas, correctly as it turns out).
- Delays in the new water networks: party dependencies come at a cost...
- New pitches. Only the naive may have believed the campaign promises that they would be ready last spring. We note our strong disagreement with the lack of aesthetics, the prevalence of the container and prefabrication solution in education and sports buildings, and we publicly question why the insensitive metal bleachers were chosen when at half the cost, a built-in grandstand could have been constructed on the existing slope at the River for half the cost, requiring no maintenance and not cutting into the width of the usable space.
- Redevelopment of Cyprus. It is a good study and - without getting our hopes up - we hope that the execution will pleasantly surprise us, unlike ALL the tragically implemented redevelopments (Mylopotamos, Livadi, Mitata, Fratsia, Belvedere).
As for the «orders» of the mayor to the supervisors and contractors for «absolute compliance with the specifications», these are anecdotal in nature and not amenable to comment since nothing has changed in the selection system, study, awarding, supervising and accepting public works, and the opposition -as expected- votes yes to the whole dance of millions (the only thing it has been «opposing» for a year is a specific procurement of advertising material).
To make a long story short: for those who know, the bottom line on the progress of public works is that Mr.Veioglou, former head of the Technical Service of the Region, has been hired as a special assistant to the Mayor - with the best wishes of course of the official opposition....
ON HOLY PILGRIMAGES
In the same words - but in separate statements - the opposition parties demanded the position of the EP on the issue of the legal dispute, anticipating that they would put us in an awkward position. Our difficulty is to understand why we should be embarrassed. Why do you imagine that the issue of who manages the shrines concerns us more than the average Cypriot (i.e., very little)? And why are you spreading so much ugliness and division? Neither can the Home Office put the bench in the hand, nor can the Metropolis ban the parade of costumed blackguards on national holidays. Why the obsession with the convents, the triumphalism or the lamentation? The point was to have less ego, to render Caesar's Caesar and God's God's God and be loved by all. As long as you fail on this simple point: the pilgrimages belong to the faithful people of Kythera - and since they have decided (by revolutionary law) that it is the administrative courts of the Greek state that resolve disputes, that is where the disputes will end.
ON TOURISM
Of course we welcome the implementation of part of the programme of Free Kythera* with the holding of a Conference on Tourism (yes, the one which during the pre-election the mayor's supporters were saying: «with conferences they will solve the problems?»).But we are surprised that a supposedly Pancythian conference is organized behind closed doors instead of an open call of scientists and experts, as well as the resounding absence of the responsible deputy mayor from the organizing committee. We hope that over time there will be greater inclusiveness so that the conference is truly representative and not a sham. And we say this because the Municipal Authority has consistently and systematically.... is absent from anything related to the planning of tourism development: with regret we noticed that at the end of the month-long public consultation on the National Spatial Framework for Tourism, no comment was made by the opposition parties and only the EPs reacted -among other things- to the exclusion of Kythera from yachting tourism, the abolition of agrotourism and the incomprehensible ban on the conversion of old buildings into accommodation. (There will be extensive information on our proposals in the Ministry's public consultation. )
Good winter
