Dherynia municipality has asked the interior ministry to provide government land for the housing of needy or young couples as a measure to attract young people to counteract its aging population, mayor Andros Karagiannis said on Friday.
The municipality said in an announcement the reason young people leave was because there are given no incentive to remain in the village.
This is the second measure the municipality aims to introduce as an incentive to young couples to consider making semi-occupied Deryneia their home.
“We also introduced a tax exemption scheme in 2014 whereby those who buy property in Dherynia to take up permanent residency are exempted from municipal taxes for two years beginning from the date they move in,” Karagiannis told The Cyprus Mail.
He added that the municipality has asked the interior ministry to provide government land within the municipality, to be carved up as housing plots to offer to needy and/or young couples.
The population of Dheryneia today, he said, was around 8,000, but it was gradually aging as the majority of young people move to urban areas in search of employment.
Dherynia is located some five kilometres from the town of Famagusta and 70 per cent of the village lies within the occupied areas.
“According to a study carried out recently, of the 373 couples that got married in Dherynia in the last 16 years, only 150 of them remained as residents in the municipality,” Karagiannis said.
Karagiannis said that they are expecting the response of the ministry soon.
