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THE INTERIOR Ministry has asked the House Finance Committee to release €3.6 million, part of which will go to pay for services to clear a backlog of cases at the Land and Surveys Department.

Of this €400,000 will pay for private land surveyors to tackle a pile of cases.

According to Philenews, thousands of applications relating to boundary disputes, access applications, land developments and the issuing of title deeds have been pending for many years, leading to long waits and the loss of state revenue.

To deal with the problem the Interior Ministry is contracting services from the private sector and paying employees overtime.

The 2019 budget provides for €700,000 for overtime pay at the department as follows: €300,000 for overtime allowances for staff working on title deeds, computerization of the archives and land surveys.

€200,000 for overtime pay to cover current and pending cases relating to the issue of title deeds of apartments, plots of land, houses in development projects and upgrading of the land information system and the implementation of other current IT projects.

€200,000 for overtime pay for contract employees who help land surveyors.

The ministry is also asking for funds to buy services from the private sector as follows:

€285,000 to collect information for land appraisals (this is the first-time private evaluators will be involved). The value of an estimated 2 million properties are to be re-assessed. The procedure is underway and should be completed by the end of June.

€522,000 for new aerial photography. €80,000 to improve the department’s online platform and implement changes resulting from the European INSPIRE directive (establishing an infrastructure for spatial information in Europe.)

Source:  Cyprus Properties News