Tuesday, November 6, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL
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Road tax charges will soon reflect carbon emissions not engine size By Poly Pantelides
The grounds of the recently restored 14th century Armenian Church of Sourp Asdvadzadzin and monastery
Dismay over plans for Armenian church UNDP unhappy with Turkish Cypriot tender procedure for a holy place aiming to ‘encourage reconciliation’ By Poly Pantelides AN ORGANISATION for religious foundations in the north has leased an historic and beautifully restored Armenian site through an unfair and opaque tender procedure, the United Nations Development Programme -Action for Cooperation and Trust (UNDP-ACT) have said. EVKAF, that oversees religious foundations in the north, leased in August the 14th century Armenian Church of Sourp Asdvadzadzin and Monastery complex (AMD) in the Arabahmet area of northern Nicosia that was renovated with UNDP-ACT funds as part of reconciliation efforts. Turkish Cypriot press re-
ports named the Near East University as the winner of a ten-year tender to turn the monastery into a cultural centre. According to Vartkes Mahdessian, the Armenian representative in parliament, such a move goes against the project’s original intention. “The objective was to have a multi-communal area where communities could come together and for the church to be used as a place of worship by the Armenian community,” he said yesterday. UNDP-ACT echoed Mahdessian’s concerns in a news release yesterday. Stakeholders worked “to restore the site to international standards so that it could encourage peace and
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reconciliation between all of the communities in Cyprus,” said the statement from UNDP-ACT and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Although UNDP-ACT and USAID did not name the tender winner, they recently said that they learned that “the site had been leased by EVKAF through a tender process that was neither fair nor transparent.” “We have expressed our serious concerns to EVKAF about this unacceptable result,” the news release said. The Cyprus Mail was unable to speak to the UNDPACT to clarify the news release. USAID and UNDP-ACT put €3.5 million into what they have called a “visionary endeavour” and a “unique confidence building measure” referring to efforts to build trust among the island’s communities. “UNDP and USAID look forward to a speedy resolution of this issue so that
we can continue to support all communities in Cyprus on cultural heritage initiatives,” the news release said. Mahdessian said that the news release “enforces our efforts” adding that they have been meeting with diplomats and representations “and we are waiting for an outcome whereby justice will be restored”. As a first step, the tender procedure must be annulled, Mahdessian said. According to the UNDP and USAID, the Turkish Cypriot leadership agreed to investigate the outcome and take action “as appropriate”. The site includes historic buildings partially surrounded by a tall masonry wall and including a Gothic masonry church and part of a monastery complex. It was in poor condition when the decision to fix it was taken. Mahdessian yesterday praised the restoration work, now completed.
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A LAW amendment will reduce the road transport department’s yearly income from road licences by €7.2 million but will prevent fines from the European Union (EU), the House finance committee heard yesterday. The bill proposes that owners of vehicles such as cars and vans pay an annual road tax based on their vehicles’ carbon dioxide emissions and not on engine capacity as is done now. Buses - up to now exempt - will also need a road licence. All new vehicle owners will also pay a vehicle registration fee of €150, irrespective of vehicle origin or age. A finance ministry representative said they were due to earn only €3.8 million a year from the proposed registration fees changes, falling short of the €11 million the road transport department calculates it can earn from vehicle registrations, as things stand. Though the finance ministry said it will try to recover the lost income, it would not say whether this would be by increasing taxes, the head of the finance committee Nicolas Papadopoulos said.
“We believe this law proposal will modernise to a large extent the way vehicles are taxed and will harmonise [the law] with today’s European standards which we must follow,” said Papadopoulos. Taxing vehicles based on their engine capacity is no longer relevant, Papadopoulos said. “Engines with a much lower engine capacity may have much better performances and so this novel approach, Europe’s modern approach, is the pursuance of lower carbon dioxide emissions,” he added. Under the proposed changes, road licence fees will be tiered and range from €20 to €1,300 depending on the vehicle’s carbon dioxide emission. The threshold is an emission of over 100 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre while emissions of over 256 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre will be subject to the maximum charge. “The proposed bill can ensure we are compatible with EU legislation, fix weaknesses and give us a more effective fee system for vehicles,” said EDEK’s Nicos Nicolaides. He added that the changes would benefit lower income earners who do not drive large engine capacity cars.
Moni, EAC’s ageing power saviour is back on standby THE electricity company (EAC) has partially shut down the ageing power station at Moni after a unit at the main Vassilikos plant, damaged in the Mari blast last year, became operational once more a week ago. The EAC said it has decommissioned a 30MW steam generator at the Moni station while four others - of a total capacity of 120MW - have been put on standby. The station’s gas turbines, installed in the 1990s will remain available either for production or as backups, depending on demand. Moni will now work with minimum personnel, as excess staff is moved either to Vassilikos or the Dhekelia power station to cover their needs. The EAC said it expects that placing Moni’s steam units on standby would cut the cost of production, due to the use of more efficient units, and reduce the station’s operating cost. Despite their age, the steam units at Moni, the oldest of which have been in operation since 1966, contributed significantly to Cyprus’ electricity supply returning to normal after the munitions blast at nearby Mari incapacitated Vassilikos on July 11 last year. The blast, which also killed 13 people, caused rolling power cuts for around a month.
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