The discussion in the Parliamentary Audit Committee on Thursday focused on issues related to the leasing of state forest land, on the subject of the Auditor General's Report on the Department of Forests for the year 2023.
In his brief introduction, the Auditor General, Andreas Papakonstantinou, said that this is a special regulatory audit report, which examined compliance with previous recommendations of the Audit Service of 2017, plus some other complaints, adding that emphasis was placed on the leasing of state forest land.
Moving on to the presentation of the most important findings of the report, EY's Audit Director, Akis Kikas, initially referred to a 2014 application for the creation of an adventure park in Fini with a lease of an area of 20 thousand sq. m., adding that ultimately the application submitted to the Council of Ministers concerned an area of 40 thousand sq. m., without, as he said, any reason for differentiation being identified during the examination. He added that no work has yet progressed on the site.
Subsequently, he referred to another case which concerned the creation of a camping area in the Machairas forest by the private association "Friends of the 72nd Scout Corps", which, as he said, has no connection with the Scout Corps.
As he explained, a reasoned finding was issued by an environmental authority in March 2021, which does not mention the fact that a protected species of water snake had been identified in the area, and then an application was made to the Urban Planning Department and a lease was approved by the Council of Ministers in 2022 for public benefit purposes that are not documented.
According to Mr. Kikas, another case concerns the leasing of land in the Polemidia state park for the creation of a special school. As he mentioned, the Forestry Department had a negative opinion, however, the Ministry of Education proceeded to submit a planning permit and assign it to a contractor, and the request was forwarded.
He also mentioned a case of leasing state forest land for the construction of hotels in Ayia Napa, one that predated the invasion, and four more, regarding which weaknesses were identified in the contract due to special conditions that were also recorded in a previous EY report.
He added that in 2019, an older law on calculating rent was repealed, resulting in the Forestry Department turning to the Legal Service for an opinion. He said that the latter responded that the agreement should be amended with the consent of both parties and that it advised the Forestry Department to calculate the market rent and, if this is not accepted, to proceed to arbitration.
Mr. Kikas also referred to a hotel unit in Troodos, which did not accept the revision of rents, went to court and won, as well as in the case of a lawsuit for illegal possession of premises in the Academy Forest, with a request for eviction currently in progress.
The Director of the Environment Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Costas Constantinou, said that the report concerns the period 2018-2024, adding that some of the issues date back to 2014, some even to the 1970s.
He also said that the need for better internal communication between the departments of the Ministry has been identified, adding that there is an issue with the responsiveness of the Department of Lands and Surveys regarding the processing of lease requests, while noting that there has been contact with the Ministry of Interior on whether the general estimate could be used to calculate leases.
For the adventure park in Phoini, he said that it appears that a new application should be requested to increase the lease area.
Regarding the special school in Polemidia, he said that the Forestry Department had one opinion, however, all the data was evaluated, the Interministerial Committee weighed all the issues and proceeded with another decision.
For hotels in Ayia Napa, he said that there are contracts that date back to the 70s and can only be changed by consent. He added that with a new law of 2019 there is an alternative way of calculating rent and approximately the same result, with the question being whether a lease at market rent can be achieved, contacts with the hotels will begin.
The Director of the Department of Forests, Savvas Ezekiel, said that the Department adopts the recommendations of the report and is making efforts for the best.
He added that since 2017, standard contracts have been developed for all types of leases, while regular meetings have also been established with the Land Registry and the relevant sectors to handle the issues at hand.
In specific comments on the points of the report also on behalf of the Department of Forests, Antonis Chorattas mentioned that a document is missing from the first meeting on the subject regarding the adventure park. He added that consultation followed by correspondence, with the Department expressing a positive opinion. He added that the interested party has paid 100.000 in market rents since 2015 and the creation of the park with small developments has not yet progressed as the issuance of permits is pending.
Regarding the lease in Machairas Park, he said that all aspects were examined, the contract was signed and the application for a building permit proceeded, but along the way, an issue was identified regarding the protected water snake and a decision was made that the area would be affected, resulting in the cancellation of the contract.
Regarding the special school in Polemidia, he said that the Ministry of Education proceeded with plans without consulting the Department of Forests, which was negative.
For her part, the spokesperson for the Legal Service noted regarding the hotels in Ayia Napa that legal ambiguity was identified after the repeal of the law in 2019, which, however, cannot lead to cancellation, adding that after consultation there is the possibility of resorting to arbitration mechanisms.
In his statements after the end of the session, the Chairman of the Committee, DIKO MP, Zacharias Koulias, said that among the issues raised today were five hotels in the Famagusta district.
"We requested that all contracts be submitted and the Committee will review them in a new session in the presence of the Legal Service and where some things can be corrected, they will be corrected. Also, various other contracts that existed in the Forestry Department have been explained, where there are several problems we will look at them one by one, but they were so extensive that we could not conclude on all the issues in today's short session," he said.
"I believe that the important thing is the preservation of forest land. There are contracts within cities and in coastal areas. We will look at all of this extensively and we will make sure that where there should be corrections, there are many gaps," he noted.
He also mentioned that certain contracts were made in other periods and at other times, such as in the Kokkinochoria area. "The state today must be reasonable regarding these areas. Of course, most of the land is forest and the state also has forest land within cities. I believe that the land that is within cities should be transferred and go to the state. It is not the job of the Forestry Department, it does not deal with such projects, the Forestry Department should deal with forests," he noted.
Mr. Koulias referred to the importance of the reopening of the Forestry College with 25 students last year and 25 this year, with the goal, as he said, of admitting 100 students from the Commonwealth, as was done in the past.
The parliamentary representative of DIPA-Cooperation, Alekos Tryfonidis, stated that all services today gave their own version of what was recorded by the Audit Service, which, as he said, presents significant phenomena of mismanagement, but at the same time the state is losing huge amounts of money from renting state forest land, either to hotels or to other citizens for other types of use.
"As the Democratic Party-Cooperation, because we want to be constructive and substantial after each session to correct errors and omissions of the state and its services. We asked the Legal Service to assist the Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment Directorate, so that changes are made to the legislation and regulations, so that the rents paid by private individuals who built properties, hotels, restaurants or other uses, pay rent at the market rent that exists today. Not for the state to take small amounts and for private individuals to have huge investments that have made millions in profits without giving the corresponding and corresponding amount, that is the essence," he noted.
"If within a month the state itself does not come up with a bill that changes those aspects and gives the state what it needs, we will proceed with a bill and changes to the legislation, so that those who use and have state land for lease for 99 years pay the current market rent to the state and the state receives what it needs so that it can use it for other purposes beneficial to the citizens," he concluded.
In statements, Nicosia MP Alexandra Attalidou said that the Auditor General clearly records serious omissions, such as leasing state forest land without adequate documentation, procedures that were promoted without a comprehensive environmental assessment and the failure to conduct substantive inspections even in Natura 2000 areas.
"Cyprus is before the European Court of Justice, because out of 37 Natura areas, only 9 have adequate protection measures. Unfortunately, we see the phenomena repeating themselves. The most worrying is the recent incident, in which old black pine trees were cut down within a Natura area, without it being publicly documented that the mandatory environmental procedures were followed," he said.
It turned out that a relevant question was submitted to the competent Ministry and answers are awaited on this issue, but, as he said, information has emerged that a former official is involved, "and then the issue is not simply environmental, it becomes a question of institutional credibility and impartiality."
"Akamas, Troodos, Foini, Machairas are symptoms of the same problem. Protecting Natura areas is our legal obligation and not a choice. Therefore, when mismanagement or opacity is recorded by the Auditor General, we are talking about institutional failure and as long as the answers remain general, Cyprus is exposed environmentally, institutionally and economically," he concluded.
Source: KYPE
