Applicants interested in setting up a private university on forest land in Ayia Napa do not give up, according to the newspaper Phileleftheros. According to the article, before submitting their request, they held meetings in the past with President Anastasiadis, as well as the former Minister of Education, Costas Kadis.
The issue was raised yesterday through the discussion of the Annual Report of the Auditor General of the Republic for the year 2017 for the Department of Forests in the Audit Committee of the Parliament. According to representatives of the Department of Forests, the request was initially submitted by Turion Ltd, while later a request was submitted by the company American University of Cyprus, with the same shareholders. It was reported in Parliament that the company's articles of association have been amended to be considered non-profit. The directors of the American University of Cyprus are Nikolaos Karoullas and Tarek Sadek, and the secretary is Zabbal Marc Antoine.
The director of the Forest Department, Charalambos Alexandrou, stated that the issue is being re-examined in cooperation with the Legal Service on the basis of the new changes. He explained that to date no lease agreement for state forest land has been signed with the company.
The Audit Office by letter dated 22.3.2019, expressed the view that the conclusion of the relevant contract for the lease of the said state forest land, based on Regulation 5 which allows the lease for public purposes, does not seem to be legal and suggested that the Department of Forests promote the necessary actions to annul the relevant decision of the Council of Ministers.
It is noted that the Department of Forests wondered whether the purpose for which the application was submitted falls within the provisions of the Law on Forests and Regulations, but in the process there was confusion whether the lease is justified for reasons of public interest or for public benefit.
However, the Department of Forests in its report states that the requested lease of state forest land will be used for public purposes. The relevant proposal to the Council of Ministers states, among other things, that "it approved the lease, for the purpose of building a private university in the public interest". At the same time, a reference was made by the Auditor General to a note of the Minister of Agriculture dated. 21.10.2017, with a request for satisfaction of the request.
The Department of Forests, in a letter dated 27.2.2018, to the director of TKX, requested that it proceed to an assessment of the market value of the leased state forest land of 39.000 sq.m. and in the calculation of its market rent for the purposes of construction and operation of a private university. The TKX informed on 27.4.2018 the Department of Forests that the market rent amounts to € 117.000 per year from the initial € 3.000.
The Minister of Agriculture, based on the remarks and suggestions of the Audit Office, submitted a new proposal to the Council of Ministers, calling for it to revoke the above decision and approve the lease under Regulation 5 of the Forests (State Land Allocation) Regulations of 2012 , relating to leasing for public purposes. The Council of Ministers approved the proposal on 30.5.2018.
Subsequently, the Department of Forests prepared a draft lease agreement, which it forwarded on 15.6.2018 to the Legal Service, for a legal inspection. The Legal Service, in a letter dated 19.3.2019, stated, among other things, that "as recorded as a comment in the text of the draft Agreement, the position of the Legal Service is that the construction and operation of a private university does not seem to be a public purpose and certainly not private universities public institutions and therefore the decision of the Council of Ministers may not be in line with the spirit of the law and / or regulation for the lease or other disposal of state forest land and public benefit purpose ".
The Forest Department takes very seriously the audit findings and the recommendations of the Audit Office, taking all the necessary actions for compliance, correction and improvement. In this context, it has developed a constructive cooperation with the Office of the Auditor General, said the director of the Department, Charalambos Alexandrou, noting that there is full compliance with the recommendations of the Audit Office.
He referred to the remarks in the report, such as state forest land management, budget implementation, personnel issues and the use of official vehicles, stressing that they have already been handled. Regarding the exchange of private land of a company with state forest land in the Lourkas forest in Geri, despite the fact that the matter is considered over for the Department of Forests, the parliamentary Audit Committee called on the Auditor General to inform the Attorney General to rule.
In relation to 10 interventions within the coastal state forest zone, which are located in the Ayia Napa area, the director of the Forest Department pointed out that there is full compliance with the instructions of the Attorney General and all measures are being taken to end the interventions. Specifically, he stated that three exchange requests are being considered, two other cases have been taken to the Attorney General's Office for referral to the Court, while for the rest a file is being prepared for promotion to the court. Also, the Department of Forests is in consultation with the University of Cyprus for the return of the land illegally held in the National Forest Park of the Pedagogical Academy. As Mr. Alexandrou characteristically said, the park is for the citizens of Nicosia.
Attempt to reinforce with drones for fire protection
The chairman of the Parliamentary Audit Committee Zacharias Koulias said that during the meeting they were informed by the director of the Department of Forests, that the Department is making a huge effort to keep the forests alive, noting that the funds available to the Republic of Cyprus are not much large, and range between € 30- € 33 million per year. As he noted, a good effort is being made for fire protection while among the plans of the Department is included a modern system. He added that an effort is being made to strengthen the Department with unmanned aircraft, the well-known drones, which will help the observation to prevent forest fires. Mr. Koulias called on the State to consider the issue of funds for reforestation and strengthening of the Department of Forests in general.
DISY MP Annita Dimitriou stated that there are still issues that are pending and concern specific cases of either interventions in forest land, or applications for use of forest land, or collection of arrears from revised rents.
AKEL MP Skevi Koukouma said that today in the Committee were heard cases of land exchange with private land, which should not have been done because it was for the benefit of private entrepreneurs.
The MP of the Ecologists-Citizens' Cooperation, George Perdikis, referring to the effort for the construction of a private university, said that "this case contains the elements of a scandal".
Source: Philenews / Angelos Nikolaou
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