Water restored to Paphos village after a month of wrangling (Updated)

After much back-and-forth between the Prastio village authorities, Paphos District Officer Mary Lambrou and MPs, the electricity authority (EAC) on Friday afternoon accepted a payment of €2,000 and reconnected electricity to the community’s water system.

Lambrou told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) that the community council and the irrigation committee came up with the sum of €1,000 each, while at the same time the committee pledged in writing that it would pay €1,000 monthly towards the debt.

Next week, Lambrou added, she will convene a meeting to confirm that the community council will also contribute to the monthly repayment.

The matter had been at an impasse on Friday at noon, by which time a settlement had yet to be reached for restoring electricity to the community, which had had its water cut for a month.

According to Lambrou, the problem was not the responsibility of the district administration or the ministry of the interior, but the exclusive responsibility of the Prastio community council and irrigation committee. The village authorities needed to reach an agreement to pay EAC money owed in arrears, Lambrou said. Nonetheless, Paphos district officials had intervened with all parties to resolve the dispute.

“We attempted to advise both local entities and mediate with EAC,” Lambrou stated, adding that EAC had agreed to restore electricity on condition of receiving a minimum payment of €3,000, and a written commitment from the irrigation committee that they would gradually repay the outstanding €12,000.

Members of the irrigation committee went to the Paphos EAC office on Thursday intending to pay €1,000 but EAC refused to accept this amount.

Speaking to CNA, Lambrou explained that the irrigation committee had the means to raise additional funds via collection of taxes and water consumption fees, in which they could be more pro-active.

A few months ago, Lambrou said, district officials had approached the water board to request separation of community drinking water supply from the irrigation supply, as the accounts and water provision are currently merged.

The water board, Lambrou stated, informed them that a new borehole had been dug in Diarizos with district funds, and was a few months away from being serviceable, however, this would not obviate the need for the local community to come to terms on payment of fees.

Prastio is a small community with three permanent residences and around six summer residences, all Turkish Cypriot properties that were granted years ago. Currently, Prastio residents receive their potable water from a water truck.