The facilities of the Pournara first reception center are being upgraded. The Council of Ministers decided today to develop improvement projects with a total cost of 25 million euros at the first reception center, a decision which the Minister of the Interior, Nikos Nouris, described as extremely important.
Nouris will sign on Thursday in Brussels, where today he accompanied the President of the Republic, Nicos Anastasiades, an agreement with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for a first funding to be given for these projects in the order of 13 million euros.
During their illegal operation in Brussels, Mr. Nouris will also negotiate the additional subsidy of the Republic of Cyprus for the purposes of providing support and assistance to Ukrainian refugees who are in our country.
Pournara Center
In his statements after the Ministerial session, Mr. Nouris said that a few months ago, the European Commission approved, after many efforts by the Ministry of the Interior, a very large expenditure of 68 million for the construction of the pre-departure center in the area of Menogeia .
He added that "after the allocation of this specific amount, we were told by the European Commission that there is an objective difficulty for additional allocations of any amount of money, mainly due to the fact that there is a war in Ukraine".
"The Ministry of the Interior explained with great clarity and persuasiveness to the European Commission that Cyprus cannot be left alone and no additional credits be granted because we are quite simply the member state that faces the most serious problems," said Mr. Nouris.
He added that "we presented a plan which cost around 25 million for the upgrade of the Pournara center which essentially consists of replacing all the stages with residential units".
He also said that fencing has already begun with funding from the Cypriot government and there will be an upgrade of the remaining areas.
Mr. Nouris also mentioned that "through a very specific effort, a mechanism has been found to provide a first financing of 13 million. This money will be allocated to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) with which the Ministry of the Interior will sign a relevant agreement for which I am going today with the President of the Republic to Brussels to sign it tomorrow".
As he said, this agreement will enable financing in the first phase of 13 million to be done within 2023, starting from next month and with the completion of the works by October, the first phase of renovation and regeneration of the Pournara center.
Mr. Nouris clarified that there will be no expansion of the center beyond its current limits.
But he said that important improvement works will be done either in the sanitary areas, or in the hospitality areas and in the security areas.
Ukrainian refugees
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that today decisions were made in the Cabinet regarding the Ukrainian refugees.
He stated that 80 Ukrainians arrived in Cyprus, of which approximately 300 have left for their homeland and therefore it seems that they remain around 54.
As he said, "the Ministry of the Interior has already issued 20.300 cards that enable the provision of support and assistance to Ukrainians. For this very large number, a very significant amount is needed and required to meet the needs of these people."
So far, he said, "an amount of around 6 million has been budgeted by the European Commission which, despite the fact that it has not yet been awarded to us, is considered too low, since we have calculated as the Ministry of the Interior and the Deputy Ministry of Tourism together that the total expenditure will reach 15 million".
"So the purpose of my visit today, among other things, to Brussels is to negotiate the further subsidy of the Republic of Cyprus to cover this specific cost," said Mr. Nouris.
Source: KYPE