There are over 500 dangerous buildings in the city and district of Larnaca, Angelos Hadjicharalambous, President of the Larnaca District Local Government Organization (DGO), told CNA.
Asked where the 500 or more dangerous buildings are located, Mr. Hadjicharalambous replied that "they exist in the area of Agios Giannis, in the Turkish Cypriot quarter and in other neighborhoods in Larnaca, in Lefkara as well as in other communities. Several of these buildings are listed and are not under the jurisdiction of the EOA but of the Ministry of Interior and specifically the Department of Urban Planning," he said.
He added that "based on the legislation, the EOAs took over the management of hazardous infrastructures from April 1, 2025, without the necessary structure and resources to date to manage this specific problem. Essentially, we used existing financial and human resources to take on these specific tasks," he said.
We have begun, he continued, "some initial contacts with the Municipalities of the Larnaca district and the District Administration, which in the past were responsible for the management of these dangerous buildings. An initial inventory of the infrastructure was made and we are proceeding with the formation of a framework and a procedure to be able to manage this situation," he noted.
Responding to a question, Mr. Hadjicharalambous said that "there are over 500 dangerous buildings in the city and district of Larnaca. Our effort is to prioritize these buildings, to see which ones we consider to be very dangerous and must be demolished immediately, while we will also give warnings to their owners so that they can take their own measures," he noted.
He also pointed out that "the institutional framework is not flexible and the management of all these buildings is time-consuming. All these buildings have been dangerous for years, that is, it is not something that happened in recent months, but they are buildings in which no management was carried out for years by the previous authorities, as a result of which a large number have now accumulated," he said.
We, he continued, "will now have to see how we can solve this specific problem, which has a serious financial cost which, as a Provincial Government Organization, we will have to examine where we will get it from."
Responding to another question, the President of the Larnaca Municipal Development Authority said that "an effort is being made to do the same with empty plots that if not cleaned by their owners, the Municipality cleans them and the bill is sent to their owners. Now an effort is being made to amend the legislation, something we also requested, so that the processing of all these dangerous buildings' cases can be faster, so that we finally have the desired result," he said.
He also said that "we really want this specific problem to be resolved, which based on the current institutional framework is very time-consuming, while at the same time in several cases the necessary actions that should have been taken were not taken."
In another question, the President of the EOA replied that "there are certain conditions for a house to be declared listed and its owner must take all necessary measures and take those actions so that it does not become dangerous. However, there are houses that were declared listed but were left to the passage of time to the point where today they are considered dangerous," he said.
For all these listed houses that are dangerous, he noted, "all actions must be taken to avoid tragic phenomena like what happened recently in Limassol. Unfortunately, what happened in Limassol is yet another example where we are essentially running behind events instead of taking all the necessary measures to prevent them," he pointed out.
He also mentioned that "repeated representations were made to the Ministry of Interior, especially in the meetings that are taking place, we raised this specific issue, namely how the EOA can take over this party and what needs to be done in order for us to be able to take it over. Unfortunately, however, and despite the repeated efforts made on our part, no action was taken," he said, and expressed the hope that "we will soon be able to have the desired results on this specific issue."
Source: KYPE
