Paphos People

Government to reassess public works as financial crisis bites
By Andreas Avgousti

Cyprus Mail

THE world economic crisis is beginning to have an effect on Cyprus, with the government to reassess and prioritise major public works, the Finance Minister said yesterday.

Initially, CyBC state radio, citing sources from the Finance Ministry, reported yesterday morning that the government was planning to ditch four specific projects.

By the end of the minute-long news item, the newsreader had dropped the use of “sources”, attributing the report to Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis himself.

The report identified four major works to be put on hold, two of which concern highways.

Specifically, works for the Paphos-Polis Chrysochous highway would stop, while the decision to add lanes to parts of the Nicosia-Limassol highway would also be put on hold. The report added that construction of the Cultural Centre and the new House of Representatives would also be halted, as would the building of the fishing shelter in Zygi.

According to the state radio, the government was keen to underline that financial requests considered just (and especially those emanating from the poorer sectors of society), would be fulfilled as much as the economy allowed.

However, Stavrakis later denied making the comments to CyBC.

“I have not made the comments about the public works which have been attributed to me,” he said.

“For the time being, no specific public work has been examined therefore references to postponements or cancellations are false.”

But he went on to say that, “it is the government’s duty to reassess all running costs, as well as all existing or imminent public works in light of the state of the economy.”

The Finance Minister said that all the public works which have been approved would be completed, following a, “correct prioritisation of the costs of the works according to the President’s programme.”

EDEK leader Yiannakis Omirou said that the matter concerned the House of Representatives as well, since the public works were part and parcel of the already-approved 2008 budget.

“If the public works which may be postponed are not urgent, then postponing them can be discussed,” he said.

However, the Paphos-born politician added that, “it would be a major disappointment for the residents of the area if work on the Paphos-Polis Chrysochous highway was postponed.”

The Head of the House Finance Committee Antigone Papadopoulou was optimistic that the Cyprus economy could handle the international pressures.

She felt that what was crucial is that, “the government must see that social benefits are given without affecting growth rates and employment,”

“The present government has inherited a healthy economy.

“The correct decisions must be taken to maintain the health of the economy, so that we do not return to older times when there was a large public debt and deficit.”

The priorities, according to Papadopoulou, should be: “Maintaining growth, protecting employment and creating employment opportunities, especially for the young.”

Commenting on the knock-on effects from the US financial crisis, Papadopoulou said that, “these can be dealt with by our economy because it is strong enough.

“My own appraisal is that growth rates can be sustained at four per cent for 2008.

“What we need is alertness and to monitor developments closely.

“We must stay true to our commitment to the EU to maintain deficit at 0.5 per cent of GDP for 2008,” the DIKO deputy concluded.



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Regards

John

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