Two more villages join Nicosia water board

The villages of Paliometocho and Kokkinotrimithia joined the Nicosia water board on Monday.

Their collaboration was finalised following the signing of contracts by Nicosia assistant district officer Andreas Hadjipakkos and the mukhtars of both villages, Andreas Kyprianou of Paliometocho and Christakis Meleties of Kokkinotrimithia.

Speaking after the contracts’ signing, Hadjipakkos said the villages’ incorporation means that “both of these communities will be able to enjoy the benefits brought by local government reform and of this new organisation, which has more technology.”

He added that as a result of the modernisation of the water board so far, the amount of water “lost” in Nicosia’s water supply has fallen from 27 per cent to 16 per cent, saving Nicosia €2.2 million per year.

Additionally, he said, the reduction in water “lost” also presents advantages for the environment, which “is definitely the most important thing”.

Other environmental advantages of the villages’ incorporation into Nicosia’s water board include a reduction in paper usage, as residents of both villages will now be able to pay their water bills online rather than receiving their bills through the post.

Hadjipakkos said online bill payment saves the Nicosia water board €300,000 and 100 tons of paper annually.

In addition, he said, electronic water metres will be installed in homes and businesses in the two villages, reducing administrative costs.

Nicosia water board general manager Constantinos Parmaklis explained that administration of the water board will be transferred in its entirety to the new district government when local government reform is enacted in June.

He added that the Nicosia water board will henceforth assume responsibility for providing water to all five of the Nicosia district’s new municipalities.

With this in mind, he said the Nicosia water board is “making provisions to create economies of scale for the new district governments,” so they can have under their own supervision “critical water supply and sewerage infrastructure”.

He added his hope that this reorganisation can “cope properly and be ready to give people the developed, quality services they want”.