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Meeting the Mukhtar of Pissouri

Editorial
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Harsh rains in recent days have had a devastating effect on some homes in Pissouri, causing a public quarrel about responsibilities. We speak to the village’s Mukhtar, Christos Foutas.

The Mukhtar had agreed to an interview before the Pine Villas debacle made headlines and, after the event it’s interesting to recognise how much of what he said is relevant to the frightening saga of the collapse of the ‘retaining wall’ behind three Aristo-built properties at Pissouri’s Pine Villas. The incident highlighted how some developers shirk their responsibilities and push forward on developments regardless of the environment or, in this instance, safety.

Foutas had made it clear that he was not prepared to use village taxes to put in support services for developers, when they should be doing this out of their own profits. “Why should the village pay, particularly the poorer people? Why should we subsidise the developers?” He explained that he was not against development as long as it respects the environment and is carried out by contractors who don’t cut corners. He is adamant that he will not change this policy, even if it makes him unpopular, and that the developers will eventually have to learn new ways.

It’s actually fascinating to sit in the Pissouri Municipal office and see at first hand the problems the Mukhtar faces on a daily basis; the way he deals in the same even-tempered, straightforward way with everyone, from staff supervising repairs and producing budget sheets, to disaffected home owners at the end of their tether. He copes, he said, because he has known the village intimately since childhood; he’s aware which families own what land; which issues are important; who is quietly trying to break the rules.

Foutas was born and bred in Pissouri and now appears to be doing his level best to keep the village from becoming another Peyia or risking more calamities of the Pine Villas variety. A man of fairly humble origins who worked on the family land as a youngster, he went to the local primary school and then to Limassol High School. “Some days I would work in the fields from first light and then catch the bus to Limassol,” he said. “When I got home from school, my work clothes were still waiting for me in the fields so I worked on the vines or vegetables until suppertime. I often fell asleep at the dinner table doing my homework!” For some of this time, the only light was from petrol lamps: electricity didn’t come to Pissouri until 1969.

Between 1973 and 1975, Foutas was called for National Service – a bleak time covering the Turkish invasion in ’74. “National Service is not good, but it’s necessary. You go in a boy – and come out a man,” he remarked. He is a great believer in education: he studied English/Greek Literature at Athens University for three years, while working nights as a porter in the central market to pay his way. Having graduated, he took a year to study and practise Teaching English as a Foreign Language, before returning home. Later he formed and subsidised the first Pissouri nursery school in 1991 and still teaches in the village in the afternoons.

A man with a quiet sense of humour and an abiding love for nature and the land, Foutas comes across as diligent, well-spoken and with an excellent commercial sense from his years in business. He has an unparalleled record of working for Pissouri: firstly as Chairman of the Co-Op Bank for 20 years and now as Mukhtar. He and his wife – whom he met at Athens University – have three children, all of whom have followed their parents’ path to Greece for further education. He is rightfully proud, more so because his “children all love Pissouri and come home often.” His three brothers also live in the village and his family home is one of the closest to the collapsed old road which skirts the village.

The impassability of this road is a real issue for Pissouri. “I wish I were Atlas and could hold up the road and restore traffic,” Foutas told me with emotion. “But it’s not only the restoration, we must also protect the whole of the area.” The 1937 earthquake started the slide; families were moved and relocated. The big ‘quake of ’53 compounded the problem and, in 1996, tremors set the hillside moving again. One hundred metres of road has dropped six metres, which will cost over £2 million to restore. Funding has been discussed at government levels, Foutas assured me: “Repairing it is a burning necessity.” In the meantime the whole village suffers, most particularly with the endless concrete lorries and pouring machinery.

Which brings us neatly back to those developers. Does Pissouri need them?

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2006

Purchasing Land for Building

Editorial
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Sir,

I am prompted to write after reading Mr Loizou’s recent article about purchasing in Cyprus.

Whilst it is always recommended that prior to the purchase of a house, the building should have a full structural survey done to ensure there are no defects; the same advice never seems to be given when the purchase of land is for building purposes.

Given that several areas in the Paphos district have been identified and mapped as bentonite and mamonia landslides, unsuitable for building, it is obviously just as essential to have an engineering geological survey of the building plot done prior to payment of any money to the owner or developer. This is particularly important in Cyprus, as there appears to be no legal obligation on the seller/builder/ developer to check on the suitability of land for building, and building permits are obviously granted without consideration of the suitability of the subsoil. For example, houses were built at Pissouri on a known geological fault and they had to be abandoned very shortly after occupancy. In Polis and Paphos there are examples of houses where the external walls are parting caused by the movement of the subsoil. There are problems with drainage and sewage, caused by building on non-permeable soil, and on land where the water table is too high. Construction on landfill sites and in river gullies which flood, are other examples.

Detailed geological survey maps written in English can be bought for a very small change from the Cyprus Geological Department in Nicosia. The maps show the soil composition, fault lines, landslides, springs/wells, rivers and roads.

Taking the precaution of checking the map will show if your intended purchase is in an area of risk. An independent land survey can then be completed and a report produced giving an opinion on the suitability of the plot for building. This could save buyers a lot of money and heartache in the future.

Allan Delaney,
Paphos

Copyright © Cyprus Weekly 2006

Accidents and Deaths ‘Waiting to Happen’ – Who’s to Blame?

Editorial
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THIS week’s recriminations involving the state, local authorities and building contractors over who is to blame for the death of a couple whose car was swept off what appears to be a badly-constructed bridge, have drawn attention yet again to the prevailing situation on the island where nobody is ever held responsible, or made to pay, for their mistakes or dereliction of duty.

The simple truth about this latest tragedy is that architects and contractors got away with building houses that encroached into the dry bed of a torrent, which was also full of discarded garbage.

The local authority did nothing to prevent this state of affairs in which the free flow of water under the bridge was blocked, resulting in the torrent flooding over it and sweeping the couple in the car to their deaths!

Now everyone, government ministers, local authorities, MPs as well as the architects and builders regrets the untimely deaths.

They blame each other for the accident and declare in unanimity that this was something “waiting to happen” that could have been avoided if due care, or conformity to rules and regulations had been enforced!

It is mind-boggling that this “waiting to happen” refrain is heard after every serious accident and mishap resulting, sometimes, in heavy loss of life as in the case of last year’s Helios Airline air crash that killed 121 people!

The shocking conclusion of the official inquiry into the air crash was that it could have been avoided if the airline itself and the plane’s crew had adhered to the mandatory safety requirements, and, even worse, if the local and the international aviation licensing authorities had not failed in their duty to ensure that international safety regulations were observed by the airline.

The bridge and Helios accidents are just two such “waiting to happen” events that spring readily to mind. How many more such tragedies must we experience before the authorities get around to doing everything they are expected to do by law to ensure that there is no more tragic loss of life?

In addition to its tragic aspect through the loss of life this state of affairs also reflects on the image of our society, which according to a recent World Economic Forum evaluation ranks Cyprus at the bottom of a list of 125 countries in such sectors as professional management and efficiency.

A comment on this report in this Viewpoint column just a month ago pointed out that “it is vital that not just the government, but plainly political parties, the business world and trade unions, all take serious note of this situation. They all need to work together not simply to improve the economy, but more importantly, to eliminate any factors that may blemish the image of Cyprus.”

Following this week’s accident caused by the blocking of the free flow of water in a river bed through human interference, what would be better than all these organisations carrying out a survey without further delay to ensure that a similar incident does not occur ever again, and that any illegal encroachments in other river beds are promptly removed and those responsible for such illegal encroachments are prosecuted?

Copyright © Cyprus Weekly 2006

Paying the Price for Rampant Development

Jacqueline Theodoulou
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DEPUTIES yesterday blamed over development for the catastrophic consequences of recent thunderstorms in Paphos, which killed two people and wrecked buildings and crops.

“Nature may be slow, but it is punishing,” said DISY Deputy Costas Constantinou during yesterday’s meeting of the House Interior Committee, which met to discuss the possible responsibilities of local authorities and government services for the damage caused during the storms.

Constantinou had submitted the issue for discussion after the first storm took place – and before the deaths of George and Maria Miltiadous, who had got trapped on a bridge in Kissonerga during a violent torrent before it collapsed and carried them away.

“Unfortunately, from the time we assigned the matter for discussion until now, we have witnessed the tragic death of two people, so we couldn’t make a difference in time.”

The first storm caused £2 million worth of damage to a hotel in the Coral Bay area, as well as significant destruction across the district.

“If the storm had happened during the night, we would definitely have been mourning more victims,” said the DISY deputy of the Paphos area.

Constantinou described how he had been witness to the situation in the specific hotel, where water levels had reached one metre high and the basement had been flooded out.

“Beds and tables were taken away to sea. We found elderly hotel guests grasping on to rocks in the sea. If this had happened during the night, these people would have died,” he said.

And it wasn’t just the hotel that suffered damage. Apartments, homes and fields were flooded out. “It is years of actions that led to these results,” said Constantinou.

“Uncontrolled development, with natural rivers cemented up and the creation of insufficient drainage systems has slowly but surely led to these devastating results.”

EDEK’s Fidias Sarikas – a former mayor of Paphos – agreed, adding that like the rest of the world, the climate in Cyprus has changed due to human intervention.

He blamed the current situation in Paphos on overdevelopment and the failure by authorities to clear clogged-up rivers in time

To avoid anarchy in future development, Interior Minister Neoclis Silikiotis stressed the need for a broader plan based on town-planning, environmental and social criteria.

During the meeting, Silikiotis announced that his ministry was currently in talks with Technical Chamber ETEK to appoint an independent technical committee, which will present a study concerning the situation in the Paphos area.

He added that based on the study, “we will see what measures we should adopt in the future in order to limit any problems and alter procedures that have been followed so far; and I am referring to the procedures that have been followed for the past decades and led to this situation today.”

 

Representatives from the various Paphos communities did not get the chance to speak during the meeting; they will be asked to attend the committee’s next meeting in two weeks’ time.

 

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2006

When a Place in the Sun Becomes a Place in the Mud

Editorial
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OVER the past month of torrential rain, one could be forgiven for thinking the west coast of Cyprus is literally sliding away under the weight of a development boom.

The death of a couple, swept over a bridge by a flash flood on Monday, has highlighted a problem that many have been warning about for some time now. A few weeks earlier, a mudslide ploughed through a Paphos hotel, with guests miraculously escaping injury. Serious questions are now being asked regarding the safety of the area, and many are blaming planning authorities and construction companies for cutting corners, not following the correct regulations and, as a result, creating an unsafe residential environment.

Phil Keating and his wife Lindsay purchased a property a few months ago in the village of Pissouri. Drawn to the idyllic site, they assumed it would be the perfect place to pitch up following his retirement from the RAF. But within months of moving in, a disaster occurred that could easily have ended in tragedy. Phil Keating has describing it as one of the most terrifying moments of his life.

At the end of their newly landscaped garden sits their newly built swimming pool. Beside the pool stood a garden shed, behind which was a 30-foot wall against a bank of earth, on top of which is a 300-year-old goat farm.

During the heavy rains of nearly three weeks ago, Phil Keating went out to the shed to check if the contents were staying dry. All was OK, so he returned to the house. Seconds later, there was a mighty crash from outside, as the 20-foot wall collapsed, crushing the shed and filling the garden with a heady mix of mud, water and goat faeces. Over £50,000 worth of damage has been caused by the disaster.

“I’ve served as a fighter pilot in the RAF for 35 years, I’ve seen action in several parts of the world and been shot at on numerous occasions, but I’ve never been as shook up as I was by the collapse of that wall. Had I been in the shed I would almost certainly have been killed.”

The problem was that adequate drainage had not been put in, causing a build-up of water in the soil, eventually causing the wall to collapse.

Finding those responsible is more complicated than one might assume. Aristo, the developers who built the property and the properties surrounding the Keatings, deny that there was anything wrong with the wall, describing the incident as an “unavoidable act of God” for which they “accept no responsibility”.

The construction manager from Aristo told the Cyprus Mail: “We designed the wall in the normal way. The water [above the house] was not directed by the authorities to the correct place. The drainage was not our responsibility, but that of the authorities.”

But Petros Foutas from the Pissouri Municipality denies that this is the case. “All the developers have an obligation to sort out the drainage. It is Aristo’s responsibility, which is in accordance with the agreement in the planning permission to do so.”

While the blame game continues, the Keatings remain in limbo. According to the couple, the goat farmer denied the developers the permission to put in the drainage. “We get on very well with the farmer, and we understand that he is fully within his rights to deny the developers. The problem is not the farmer. But everyone wants to blame the farmer.”

Aristo insist their response was immediate, and they are now building a new wall, a fact Phil Keating has acknowledged.

“The developers immediately started to rectify the situation, and the site engineers are doing the best they can in difficult circumstances,” he said. “But we still find it very hard to accept it was an act of God alone.”

An independent survey has been commissioned, the results of which will be released next week. The surveyor told the Cyprus Mail that he was unable to comment on the case before the report had been released, but he could say that any construction plans “must be approved by the authorities”, and that any new building work should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

If Aristo’s ‘act of God’ explanation is correct, then all the Keating’s can do is pray that their new wall won’t succumb to the same fate as the first.

A Disaster Waiting to Happen

Editorial
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“IF SOMETHING isn’t done soon then we could be looking at another Aberfan.” These were the words of Pat Ellis, a concerned resident of the rapidly expanding village of Peyia, near Paphos, referring to the 1966 disaster in South Wales in which 144 people died when a tip of coal waste slid onto the village.

The anxious residents of Peyia are mobilising to take action against what they feel is a disaster that is not waiting to happen, but is already happening.

Their complaints are numerous. With the rapid construction – over 7,000 new homes have been built in the past five years – local people believe that the safety, aesthetics, cultural traditions and quality of life in Peyia are being seriously jeopardised.

A few weeks ago torrential rains caused a landslide, that one resident described as being like “a tsunami of mud”. The cascade of mud ripped up the roads, destroyed gardens, and put one woman’s life in real danger. “Had it not been for the help of a van driver shielding this woman from the mudslide with the side of his van, she would almost certainly have been killed,” said Peyia resident Linda Leblanc.

Peyia is a growing village nestled in the hills overlooking Coral Bay. Over the past two years, it has become one of the places on the island to have ‘that place in the sun’.

About 25 per cent of its resident population is now non-Cypriot, and at the height of the tourist season this figure rises above 50 per cent. The rapid expansion seems to propagate a list of complaints which grows as fast as the building that so disturbs the villagers.

Water shortages, crumbling roads, unstable foundations, diverted rivers, messy building sites, lack of police and post office and a deterioration in the aesthetic beauty of the village, are just a few of the things that worry the inhabitants.

The greatest concern is the possibility that, following another bad rainfall, landslide or earthquake, some of these hurriedly built properties will come down considerably faster than they were erected.

A spokeswoman for the Peyia Community Association was recently quoted as saying, “Much of the land seems to be unstable and unsuitable for safe construction of the many new multi-storey apartment blocks that are under construction in Peyia. I dread to think what will happen if there is torrential rain or, God forbid, an earthquake.”

One would think that with the possibilities such as this, the property market would have dried up as fast as the diverted rivers. But the scale of continuing construction – much of Peyia is a building site – and the countless signs advertising the sale of plots of land and new apartment blocks, seem to contradict such an assumption.

David Ball, who has lived in Peyia for 17 years, told the Sunday Mail that apartment blocks five stories high are being built on dry river beds and six-month-old landfill sites. “I feel that some of the construction on such foundations should have been stopped. In the UK, the landfills have to be monitored for 25 years before they can be built on,” explained Ball.

Stelios Cristodoulou, from General Insurance, said that the company had received around 200 claims as a result of the recent rain with the total value in the region of £250,000. Half of these came from hail stones damaging cars, and the other half concerned water damage to property.

A few months ago a protest was held by developers, complaining of delays to the issuing of building permits by the local authorities. This represents the polar opposite to what Leblanc and Ball are concerned about. “We’re not against development, but let’s do it responsibly and in a sustainable manner,” said Leblanc.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2006

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