Our View: Government must deal with the NIMBY mentality

Nine communities of the Vasiliko area will stage a protest on Tuesday by closing the Pentakomo waste treatment plant indefinitely. A statement issued by the coordinating committee of the nine communities referred to “the dangers posed by the fires and continuous smells” and demanded a “permanent solution to the risks posed to the health and safety of residents of the area.”

The protest was necessary, the statement said, because despite countless assurances from the president and minister that a conference would be held to solve all problems appearing in the Kalavasos and Pentakomo industrial area nothing had been done. The coordinating community decided that “it does not accept the asphalt factories or any other polluting industries in the area and will stage a dynamic protest, featuring the indefinite closure of the waste treatment plant.”

The NIMBY (not in my back yard) mindset has become the norm. A few days earlier, mayors from communities of the Larnaca district issued an ultimatum to the government, saying that they would accept the building of an asphalt factory on condition that the Koshi waste treatment plant was moved elsewhere. If the waste treatment plant stayed, they would not accept the other factory, said Aradippou mayor Evangelos Evangelides. He also said that responses given at a meeting by the agriculture minister were not satisfactory.

Before this, there was a fire at the Geri recycling facility, which released toxic fumes and prompted residents of Geri, Dhali and Tseri to demand that the industrial zone be turned into a ‘light industry zone.’ Attending the opening of a park in Geri a week ago, President Christodoulides agreed that the industrial zone should be moved somewhere else, adding that no new permits for factories would be issued.

In short, no community wants an industrial zone close to it. In the case of Geri, the industrial zone had been there for a while before people started buying plots and building houses next to it. Building permits should never have been given to them by the authorities, but now it is done and the people who built homes next to the industrial zone, aware of the risks, now want the factories moved elsewhere.

The question is, where would industrial zones be located given that no community wants one near it? Even those that existed for years, before houses were built close to them, the residents now want moved. Should we build an island off the coast and move all factories there? That will probably meet with the opposition of hoteliers.

Christodoulides made a big mistake last week, pandering to the demand of Geri residents about the industrial zone. The government cannot satisfy demands for moving factories operating in designated industrial zones. It can never win this game. What it needs to do is ensure there are strict laws, aimed at stopping pollution caused by factories and making sure these are enforced. Factories that do not comply and fail to observe mandatory safety standards should be stopped operating.

Eliminating, or at least minimising the pollution caused by factories is the only option.