The Minister of Interior, Konstantinos Ioannou, announced on Tuesday the start of the implementation of the accelerated procedure for examining and issuing urban planning and building permits for low and medium-risk developments, following the announcement of the reform of the licensing sector.
He also emphasized that by implementing the fast-track procedure in low and medium-risk developments, the issuance of permits for 50% of developments is essentially accelerated and, at the same time, the EOA staff is relieved of a large volume of applications.
He also mentioned that the institution of the Building Inspector is being introduced in collaboration with ETEK, and that with the new procedure, 347 urban planning applications and seven applications for building permits for low-risk developments were examined.
In his statements today, at the Ministry of Interior, Mr. Ioannou said that the new procedure extends to developments of up to 12 terraced houses and four-story apartment buildings of up to 20 apartments and a basement, with the aim of simplifying licensing procedures and accelerating service to citizens.
"The implementation of the fast-track procedure in Category B developments is being implemented within the framework of the major reform of the licensing sector and aims, primarily, to simplify and modernize licensing procedures, in order to accelerate service to citizens. At the same time, our main goal is to prevent the phenomena of urban planning arbitrariness through the strengthening of on-site control," he added.
As the Minister of the Interior explained, the new licensing method provides for rapid and automatic procedures for examining urban planning and construction applications and issuing permits in a significantly reduced time that does not exceed a total of 80 working days.
"Applications are submitted electronically to the Provincial Government Organizations through the 'Ippodamos' System along with the necessary documents and the special Designer's Declaration Form, which certifies the completeness and correctness of the application by the private designer, who assumes responsibility for the execution of the project, in accordance with the terms of the permits to be issued," he noted.
At the same time, Mr. Ioannou continued, the way in which development control is exercised is being radically modified.
"Ensuring that the reduction in permit issuance time is achieved in parallel with quality in construction, as an insurance policy, the process includes transferring control from paper to the ground, in three stages throughout the construction of the development," he added.
The Minister of the Interior also said that in addition to the control of applications that will continue to be carried out by the Licensing Authorities, the institution of the Building Inspector will soon be introduced.
"These are private engineers, members of ETEK, who will receive the necessary training and certification from the Chamber, so that they will be able to carry out on-site inspections at construction sites, in two phases of construction work. As additional safeguards for the impartiality of building inspectors, in consultation with ETEK, the provisions of the bill under preparation promote the random selection of engineers who will carry out the inspection in a development from a list of ETEK Building Inspectors, with the obligation that the two on-site visits will be carried out by different persons," he noted.
The third and final inspection, Mr. Ioannou continued, will be carried out by the officers of the Building Inspectorate, who will also be responsible for issuing final approval for the building, and who will be able to file a complaint against the Building Inspectors to the competent bodies, in case they find an incomplete inspection on their part.
As he stated, "our effort to simplify and modernize the Licensing Sector, which is now being completed with the implementation of the fast-track procedure for medium-risk developments, was combined with the equally major reform of Local Government."
The Minister of Interior recalled that since October 2023, and in collaboration with ETEK, they have gradually implemented a package of 22 measures, which simplified the entire process and reduced bureaucracy for the benefit of citizens.
In the continuation, Mr. Ioannou said, they implemented the first phase of the automatic licensing process for low-risk developments of up to two residences, for which permits are secured in a total of 40 working days.
"It is with satisfaction that we see that the new system is working successfully and without any problems, technical or otherwise. The data from the 'Ippodamos' System proves the truth of this. Specifically, from October 2, 2024 to date, 491 urban planning applications for single-family and duplex houses have been submitted. The examination has been completed and permits have been issued or the applications have been rejected for 347 of them. For the remaining 144, the 20 working day period has not passed. As for applications for a building permit for the same category of developments, in the first month of implementation of the new procedure (from February 3, 2025) a total of 61 applications were submitted and the examination of seven has been completed. The remaining 54 are within the 20 working day time frame," he added.
Mr. Ioannou said that by implementing the fast-track process in low and medium-risk developments, we are essentially accelerating the issuance of permits for 50% of developments and, at the same time, “and equally important, we are relieving the EOA staff of a large volume of applications.”
"In this way, the Provincial Government Organizations are given the opportunity to focus on strengthening the enforcement and control sector, as well as on examining the remaining applications concerning more complex and large developments," he added.
The Minister of Interior reiterated the Government's intention to make the necessary changes, so as to improve the way state services operate and serve citizens more effectively and without inconvenience.
"It is precisely within this context that the radical change in the mechanism for examining and issuing urban planning and construction permits is part of, which has multiple benefits for development and the economy, but mainly for Cypriot citizens," he concluded.
Source: KYPE
