Paphos city and district have recorded 226 dilapidated buildings, with occupied apartment blocks in the city identified as the most pressing concern, as authorities prepare for a pan-Cyprus meeting on the issue next Tuesday.
The meeting, to be held in Nicosia, will bring together the presidents of all five District Local Government Organisations (DLGOs), along with ETEK and the Union of Municipalities, to discuss the management of dangerous and dilapidated buildings and coordinate action across the island, according to Paphos DLGO President Charalambos Pittokopitis.
Of the 226 buildings recorded in Paphos, 71 fall within the Paphos municipal boundaries, of which 10 to 12 are considered to be in a more dangerous condition.
A further 109 dilapidated premises are located in communities, while 46 have been recorded in the Polis Chrysochous municipality.
Pittokopitis noted that most of the dilapidated buildings in communities are unoccupied, but said the main problem lies in Paphos itself, where dangerous apartment blocks continue to be inhabited.
Pittokopitis said he and the DLGO’s civil engineer had carried out on-site inspections of the dangerous buildings. No immediate collapse risk was identified, he said, but re-inspections would follow and measures would be taken under existing legislation where necessary.
One aim of Tuesday’s meeting is to use cooperation with ETEK to carry out a full re-inspection of all buildings already recorded as dangerous, in order to update the data and establish their current condition.
An internal meeting held this week discussed procedures for handling such cases going forward, Pittokopitis said. Instructions were given to secure evacuation orders where deemed necessary.
He also called for urgent cooperation with the Law Office and the House of Representatives to advance legislative amendments to address existing gaps, noting that current procedures were particularly time-consuming and that this increased the risk of serious incidents.
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