After the initial hiccups, the major problems faced by district organisations in their first months since they took over in the summer last year, have boiled down to sewerage, waste treatment, water and building permits.

Larnaca district organisation (EOA) governor Angelos Hadjicharalambous said these were the main challenges for 2025, with building permits topping the list.

Famagusta district governor Yiannis Karousos announced in November last year that he had solved this problem by introducing express procedures and dealt with 68.5 per cent of applications from early July till the end of September.

Karousos has been complaining, however, that powers are being taken away from the EOAs, a position refuted by the interior ministry, which said the organisations would soon have to deal with waste as well.
Hadjicharalambous’ EOA, which has not been issuing permits so fast, said efforts were being made to meet the public’s expectations and hand out the permits immediately.

It should take 20 days for planning permission and a further 20 for a building permit, he said.
He pointed out that there was a backlog of complicated applications, which had not been examined prior to the EOAs taking over.

The next step, he said, was to get things moving properly.

Hadjicharalambous said a lot still needed to be done before the EOAs functioned to their full capacity, for example hiring staff.

Larnaca will see a significant increase in its EOA staff in February, which is expected to get things going, Hadjicharalambous added.

One of the problems, he said, was Ippodamos software which deals with building permits and which the deputy innovation ministry should deal with.

Hadjicharalambous also referred to water supply for Larnaca and the 16 communities under the EOA umbrella, most of which were facing problems with old pipes and water loss.

This, he said, could be solved with new infrastructure, as the existing one had not been maintained.
Sewerage systems were also a headache and projects demanded millions of euros to be completed.
Some, he said, were already in the ‘pipeline’ and others for Aradippou, Livadia, Pyla and Oroklini would be inviting tenders worth €270 million later this year.

Over the coming years, Hadjicharalambous hopes to complete necessary projects and, bring EOA to an efficient level and make Larnaca attractive to residents and visitors.

Karousos in neighbouring Famagusta has been bashing away at the permit backlog “in full transparency” – as promised – but said the government was taking away local authorities’ powers, insinuating that approving the permissions and permits was not up to him.

He said in a video that EOA directors examine the applications, not the governor of the organisation – who cannot sign anything – however a significant number of authorities had been removed from the governors.

The interior ministry dismissed the allegations, saying that building permits were a clearly technocratic issue that demanded specialised technical knowledge.

It also said hiring staff was being delayed because the Famagusta EOA was late submitting its budget for 2025.

The ministry said authorities had been given to the EOAs to examine applications and take decisions where there were aspects affecting the formulation of policy in town planning.

In conclusion, the interior ministry said EOAs had an important role to play, which extended further than issuing permits – such as water supply and sewerage – and soon would include waste.

With water supply, sewerage and waste on their plate, EOAs should not downplay their roles, the ministry added.