RESIDENTS of Tala village in Paphos will meet today to decide whether they want to start paying for a sewage system which their community leader says may not even begin for a decade.
SABBA, the Paphos sewage board, is proposing that rates be imposed on Tala residents from 2013 for a system which even they admit does not yet have a start date.
The community leader, Areti Pieridou, told the Cyprus Mail that residents were already struggling financially and says she believes the money would be used to complete other SABBA projects first, a claim the sewerage board flatly denies.
Eftichious Malakides, the director of SABBA said: “This information is completely wrong... just stories… a smokescreen so that rates don’t have to be imposed in Tala yet.”
He said it had been explained to the residents both verbally and in writing on numerous occasions that the money would be held in a separate SABBA account and used for the sewage system. If the system is not implemented the money would be returned to the residents, he said.
No specific time frame was given for the start of the sewage works however.
“The complication is that, as directed by the EU, by 2015 the Cyprus sewage system has to be completed. The banks are not loaning money to Cyprus at the moment so we cannot give a start date, but we will start as soon as the money is available,” said Malakides.
Pieridou said the residents fear that without a start date, they money would be channeled to sewage works elsewhere in Paphos.
“I’m also very concerned that due to the recession and the financial situation that the government won’t pay the 80 per cent of the costs of the project, which they have to. Maybe it will be as long as ten years before the community is connected,” she said.
But the director of SABBA said it was always a good idea to pay in advance, before work gets underway.
“This was the case in Yeroskipou and Chlorokas. They paid one third of the rates for seven years prior to the construction of system,” he said.
“Before the loans come in, there is work that needs to be done such as studies and designs. The money paid up front is used for this purpose.”
Malakides said the community had been given until March or April next year to decide if they want to be part of the sewage project or not.
Pieridou said if Tala could not be excluded from the works, they should at least stave off the charges for another five years.
The meeting for residents will take place today at the Kamares Club, Paphos at 3pm.
There will be a separate meeting for Greek speakers on Saturday December 15 due to the language barrier.