The House plenum will vote on Thursday on three bills to allow eligible refugees to withdraw from the Ktizo plan and receive the compensation they are entitled to, House refugee committee MPs said on Tuesday.

After the committee wrapped up discussions on the issue, chairman and Akel MP Nikos Kettiros said the three bills concern tax on capital profit, a 0.4 per cent fee and transfer fees for refugees who no longer wish to participate in Ktizo.

The bills were submitted last week in agreement with the interior ministry.

The bills affect 42 families. “Ten are ready to be paid compensation, while the others have some loose ends regarding encumbrances for the houses, that can be sorted out through the compensation they will receive,” Kettiros said.

Kettiros said compensation is calculated according to the value of the land and the old apartment and is between €60,000 and €90,000.

“We would like the option for withdrawal to be given from the outstart,” Kettiros said, adding that participation in the Ktizo should not be obligatory.

Furthermore, he said blocks of flats for beneficiaries were almost finished in Nicosia, while there were delays in completing construction works in Limassol and Larnaca.

While the government was refusing to pay the initial €25,000 for the flats, a sum the refugees had to pay themselves, the state was paying their rent and with the delays would end up paying the deposit anyway, Kettiros said.

The government’s Ktizo plan aims at improving living conditions in refugee estates, and was launched after several of the buildings in these areas were deemed unsafe.

The scheme sees their destruction and the refugees housed in them paid a rental allowance until new properties, some of which are now under construction, are completed.