Fast-track examinations of planning permission applications for medium-risk projects are now going ahead, Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said on Tuesday.

The announcement follows the introduction of fast-track applications for low-risk buildings in October last year, with Ioannou saying that around half of planning permission applications submitted can now be fast tracked – a fact which he says will relieve district governments of a “large volume” of work.

To deal with the new system, he said, a new position of building inspector is being created by the government in cooperation with the Cyprus scientific and technical chamber Etek.

So far, he added, 347 planning applications and seven applications for building permits for low-risk developments have been examined.

With the system so far judged by the government to have been a success, Ioannou said it will now be available for developments comprising up to 12 houses or four-storey blocks of flats with up to 20 apartments.

The aim of this, he said, is to “simplify permission-giving procedures and accelerate the service offered to the public”.

He described the changes as a “major reform” and said their goal is to bring an end to “arbitrary decisions” being made over planning permission applications.

The new procedure, he said, allows for the time taken for a planning permission application to be examined to fall to fewer than 80 days for medium-risk developments and 40 days for low-risk projects.

On the matter of district governments (EOAs), he said that by reducing their workload in examining planning applications, which now instead go through the fast-track system, they are “given the opportunity to focus on strengthening enforcement”.

In addition, he said, EOAs now have the opportunity to examine in more detail applications for larger developments.

Fast-track planning permission applications are filed to district governments via the government’s Ippodamos electronic licencing system. The building’s architect fills out an online form and thus undertakes responsibility for the accuracy of the information in the application.

For low-risk projects, if an EOA does not reject an application within 20 days of it being filed, planning permission will be considered as having been granted and will be automatically issued via the Ippodamos system on the 21st day.

No more than 20 days later, a separate construction permit will be granted, and the project can legally begin.