By Luke Chr. Luke:
Twenty months have passed since the new municipal authority undertook to carry out the transformation of Sotira into a new, modern municipality, with services for the citizen as well as projects for its development. The new municipal council officially received a fund of seven hundred thousand euros. In addition, it received three projects that were approved for implementation (report by civil servants who handled them).
The works that were in the vestibule are the following: New municipal stadium Sotiras, a multipurpose center and the regeneration of the coastal front. Inheritance of the outgoing Community Council and its President. For the latter there was planning and landscaping of the beach and the restaurant, a very good move, for which seventy-five thousand euros were paid. I am sure that many of the outgoing and current Board of Directors, as well as my friend the Mayor, knew this.
Today the question is floating in the air, what happened to the seven hundred thousand funds, the one million one hundred thousand state sponsorship in 2012, the five hundred thousand in 2013 and why are you asking for a loan of € 200.000 to make a living?
I wonder what work was done to make us proud with such a budget? At first sight, it seems that the Municipal Authority did not make a good financial budget and prioritize the projects that were planned. Everything was thrown in the basket. The only thing that the municipal authority touched is the coastal front with its new arbitrary design, without landscaping, without announcing the project budget to the conspirators and finally without urban planning approval (while there was the previous planning). Part of this "renovation" was the small shop on the beach, with covered areas not more than sixty square meters, which does not make it functional to serve larger events. But I congratulate the four managers who are children with vision, who made the difference and made it a success. We are confident in their success because they are good professionals.
Among the many questions that arise are the non-utilization of the small islet and the non-utilization of the private piece to the west in order to unite the coastal front. An upgrade of the small islet (eg overpass, lighting) and parallel use of the plot to the west would result in the creation of a tourist beach under the auspices of the CTO, a project which was approved by the government fifteen years ago. These would result in the global donation promotion of the tourist area of Agia Thekla resulting in the largest influx of tourists.
It should be noted that there is no similar design in the province of Famagusta. Do we expect another neighboring municipality to do it and then protest as always as a poor relative?
Going forward I would like to refer to the creation of the two new beaches. The above action proved unfortunate and in addition public money was wasted. It seems that again there was no plan, budget and plan. As a result, two beaches inaccessible to two to three bathers a day and dowry the destruction of the area with the high rocks to cut off the view of the owners, houses there. The deputy prefect stated that he did not know about the expansion of the beaches. Sotira is probably many kilometers away from Paralimni and they did not hear, they did not see.
Many will say we criticize maliciously and do not want development. On the contrary, my wish is for the development of the coastal front to take place yesterday. I want development, I want promotion of our Municipality, but I want them to be done properly with planning and planning.
Since 2000, when I have been active in the area, I see us taking a step forward and three steps back. I wonder first why there is no Katerkou Street where there are two or three companies. Secondly, because the prunings are not collected and everyone throws them wherever they want. I was ashamed when my client, a Russian millionaire, came to our area to see a large piece and saw the pile of rubbish and wondered about the infrastructure. Thirdly, because the "old bus" canteen is still on the sidewalk in the area of Agios Efstathios. There is a complaint to the prefect two years ago but it is probably not part of the effort to upgrade the area. Apparently the effort concerns the tree but we leave the forest to its fate.
We now come to the crucial question. How much did all this regeneration on the coastal front cost? It seems that even the municipal councilors do not know. Ignorance leads to gossip, with the result that huge amounts of money are heard in cafes, which, if true, are a huge scandal. With simple management laws, offers are announced to engineers (architects-politicians) after the relevant permits are obtained, the project budget is published, the jobs that will arise, the citizen is informed about the process and the project starts. If the project escapes again, which shows what happened, you repeat the process and most importantly you inform the interested parties and especially the citizen. Do you want us to consent to illegal constructions exposed by the Municipality and to feel proud?
This is in short the situation that prevails in our municipality today. Opposition voices both inside and outside the "walls" are not taken into account at all, it seems. We immediately invite those who agreed to the creation of the above projects to present a detailed statement of expenses. I also challenge them to set up a pandemic meeting immediately to discuss this serious issue. The situation is serious, on the high roofs they are trying to throw the issue in the soft and I wonder how a municipal authority will impose the law and order since it itself is illegal and does what it wants? Since the majority closed behind an office door did what they thought was right, it means that if the auditor general comes for direct control tomorrow, everything will be perfect.
Clear sky lightning is not afraid of the masters of the majority. Questions looking for answers, negative image is almost universal. It is not covered by festivals and events. We are waiting…