Newsroom
Paphos’ mayor, Phaedonas Phaedonos, didn’t mince words on social media this week, painting a frustrating picture of the slow grind inside Cyprus’ public sector. According to him, what should be a quick 15-day formal approval now takes nine months, thanks to endless meetings, duplicate steps, and holiday delays.
“We wonder why projects and cases in the public sector aren’t moving,” Phaedonos wrote. “After waiting six months for the competent Ministerial Committee to meet, we are now waiting at least a month for the minutes to be drawn up. With the holidays, it could easily stretch to two months.”
And that’s just the start. Once the minutes are ready, they have to go back to the ministers who sat on the committee for approval, a process that adds another month. Then, those same minutes must be forwarded to the Council of Ministers, where the same ministers vote again.
In other words, the same officials are approving the same thing twice, creating unnecessary delays even for straightforward public utility projects, like issuing a building permit.
Phaedonos didn’t hold back: “We deserve our fate. When, in 2025, a formal approval that should be completed within fifteen days ends up taking nine months. What a pity.”
For residents and businesses waiting on approvals, it’s a painfully familiar story: bureaucracy that slows down progress and leaves even simple projects mired in red tape.
