The Ministry of Foreign Affairs responds to AKEL with the Government's rural housing plans

The Ministry of Interior quotes the rural housing plans that it implements and launches in its response to statements on the issue of AKEL General Secretary Stefanos Stefanos, noting at the same time that it will be very interesting to see if AKEL will finally support the implementation of these projects and these housing projects for our countryside, voting on the relevant funds included in the 2022 budget.

According to an announcement by the Ministry, transmitted by the GTP, "at a time when the Government is tripling the budget of housing projects for 2022, at a time when until the end of November they benefited from our housing projects, 465 applicants with financial assistance exceeding € "15,6 million, in AKEL, through their General Secretary Mr. Stefanos Stefanos, are rushing to characterize the government's housing policy as insufficient".

"We want to remind AKEL that it is this Government that, in practice and for the first time, has set as a priority the confrontation of the rural problems, formulating generous housing plans for obtaining housing in mountainous, disadvantaged, remote and remote areas," he said.

Plans, he added, "aimed mainly at our young people. "And despite the fact that these plans were implemented last March, they are already being revised to re-announce the beginning of 2022 with additional improved incentives that will make them even more attractive."

Why, continues the announcement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "we want to see the pool of beneficiaries grow, the number of eligible areas to expand and financial benefits to increase, reaching up to 80,000 for eligible applicants."

"The tripling of the appropriations for 2022, in the midst of the health crisis, proves the clear goal of the Government for the development and revitalization of our countryside", it is noted.

According to the Ministry of Interior, "recognizing the peculiarities, but also the difficulties of those who choose to stay in the remote areas of our mountainous areas, we have introduced an additional travel allowance to facilitate their passage and movement. We also grant those who live at an altitude of over 600m., But also those who live in areas that are at least 40km from the urban centers, with a special allowance for which an amount of € 7,5m was included. in the Budget of 2022 ".

For the Government, it is stated, "the revitalization of the countryside ranks very high in our priorities. And that is why, in parallel with our bonus policies, we are reviewing the Policy Statement for the Countryside and the corresponding one for Troodos, which include a series of targeted spatial planning policies for the development of mountainous areas ".

Recognizing also that over time the countryside was left without the appropriate infrastructure, by directive of the President of the Republic, for the three years 2022-2024 we have planned a series of development projects amounting to € 440 million, through the budget of the Ministry of Interior, adds.

AKEL, according to the Ministry of Interior, "chooses to ignore these realities in order to serve its party agenda with supposedly" popular "sensitivities. It would be interesting to hear what was the policy of supporting the countryside of their own government and what development projects they left us as a legacy. "Against the decay and abandonment they bequeathed to us, we respond with evidence and works."

And it will be very interesting, he adds, "to see if AKEL will finally support the implementation of these projects and these housing plans for our countryside, voting for the relevant funds included in the 2022 budget."

"We will be here to monitor and evaluate the behavior and attitude of the opposition party," the statement concluded.

Source: KYPE