Only in Cyprus could the government decide to redesignate an industrial zone in the Dali-Yeri area into a ‘white zone’ which prevents the 50 factories that have been in the area, since the late 1980’s from expanding and developing their operations. This scandal was brought back into the public forum by the editor of Phileleftheros, Aristos Michaelides who said in articles published in the last week that this was the first step before forcing the factories out of the area.

The pressure on the government to do this will increase as more and more people are building houses close to the industrial zone and want the factories out of the area because they have “high nuisance value.” The weakness displayed by the government, and particularly President Christodoulides in dealing with the matter, must make the residents confident that the factories would eventually be kicked out of the area and the value of their properties would go up.

According to an announcement issued by the Nicosia district government organisation (Eoa), “the decision was taken after pressure and documented suggestions by Nicosia Eoa, the local authorities and the affected residents, with the aim of restricting activities and uses of high nuisance values and safeguarding the comforts of the area’s residents.” Eoa also sent Michaelides a news report which said that this decision “constitutes the implementation of a pre-election pledge by Mr Christodoulides.”

The presidential candidate had pledged to have all the factories moved out of the Dali-Yeri industrial zone, which has been in existence for some 40 years, in order to win the votes of the area’s residents, who had no legitimate right to complain or make any demands of the government. The residents had moved into the area long after businessmen had invested millions setting up and operating factories in the industrial zone and knew exactly what to expect. The audacity of subsequently demanding factories, which were there for decades, were removed from the area, because of the noise and the smells, defied belief.

It also defies belief that Christodoulides promised to satisfy the totally unreasonable demands of the residents, who should not have built homes next to an industrial zone if they did not like the smell and noise they made. Declaring the industrial zone a ‘white zone’ is designed, eventually, to move the factories out. Apart from this being very costly for the state – the factory owners would have to be compensated generously – the government would also have to find a new area to house the factories, something easier said than done. The Phileleftheros article pointed out that commerce, industry and energy ministry disagreed with the ‘white zoning’ and warned of the “negative consequences for industry.” The warnings were ignored by the president for whom winning votes is the only thing that matters. The bill for this crude and irresponsible populism will be picked up by taxpayer.