AKEL MP Christos Christofides said in turn that this plan, as well as other similar plans, is of great importance.
Improvement of transparency and accountability for the implementation of the Plan of Plots to families with low incomes was requested by the Parliamentary Audit Committee on Thursday during a debate on the Audit Office report on this plan for 2022.
In his statements after the end of the session, the chairman of the Commission and MP of DIKO Zacharias Koulias said that the Audit Office report reports cases where the criteria of the plan were violated and how the Ministry of the Interior was requested if these violations were indeed rational or if they were done.
“In a common confession, this program has served many generations of poor families, which is the weakest part of our people, and the issue of mortgage programs was again raised,” he said.
He added that the Commission has requested in the face of the difficulty facing young couples and the poorest groups of the population in terms of housing to submit a comprehensive program in three months, as he said, the criteria for distributing the land for poor families will also change.
He also requested information from the Minister of the Interior, who, he said, would be summoned with the Ministry’s General Manager to present the government’s general housing policy, with the recommendation of the Commission to change the building factor to increase the floors of the buildings and protecting the agricultural land.
“This measure must be taken immediately in the face of the huge housing problem faced by the economically weaker ranks of our people,” he said.
DISY MP Savia Orphanidou said the plan has encountered many implementation problems and objective difficulties in recent years, adding that through the Audit Service report, there were cases that need further investigation.
“The most important thing is that this plan needs a shorter revision to be able to contribute constructively to the current housing crisis,” he said, adding that, as transferred to the Commission, the plan is already in the Legal Service for Legal Audit for Review.
“The housing crisis in our country is expanding, despite the measures taken by both the previous and the current government. We express the assessment that the crisis will not be addressed in this way, much more and much faster needs to be done, the issue of housing crisis is needed to be very high. Instead of further enlargement of elastic expenditure, we believe that there should be proper hierarchy and addressing current challenges, one of them and the housing crisis, “he added.
AKEL MP Christos Christofides said in turn that this plan, as well as other similar plans, is of great importance.
However, he regretted the fact that according to the Audit Service report, existing criteria are not followed in many cases, are selectively followed, or is unclear to the extent that it leads to improvisations.
“When the criteria are not followed, this may be done because of the good option of the provincial administration to help, it can be done by social sensitivity, but anyone can assume that it can be done for a roof, it can also be done to serve interests, because there is a complex and so on.”
“The Council of Ministers, where there are ambiguities, should make the criteria clearly and the provincial administrations if they have suggestions to submit them to the Cabinet and beyond that they have a responsibility and debt to apply the criteria that exist,” he concluded.
Independent MP Alexandra Attalidou said, for her part, that the report highlights the crucial issue of access to accessible housing, especially for vulnerable groups of the population.
He added that the report pointed out the need to improve transparency and accountability in all aspects of the plan in order to ensure equal opportunities for all citizens.
“The control of the procedures and the clear rules will give hope to the beneficiaries, facilitating them to the acquisition of housing. It is therefore imperative that these proposed improvements be proceeded immediately in order to enhance social cohesion and reduce poverty in vulnerable groups of the population, “he said.
He added that the revision of the plan is necessary because the housing crisis has set a large part of the population on the sidelines of life and has set children and adults below the poverty line.
“Ensuring equity, transparency and commitment to applying the right criteria is for the benefit of the whole,” he concluded.
SOURCE: KEPE