Esentepe - Water Query

waddo · Post by **waddo** » Mon 07 Nov 2016 9:29 am

Alisa wrote: " Check our bills! Check the Esentepe Beladiye Team! Why are they lying on this issue? Where the money going for the water which has never been delivered?"!

Are not the financial accounts of the Esentepe Beladiye public accounts and therefore open to the public? That should be the first question asked at Thursdays meeting and should be asked of the Ombudsman in the first instance! Perhaps someone can invite him to this meeting along with a senior member of the Police so that all questions can be asked and answered properly by all sides. For sure a spokesperson will be needed or the meeting will end up as just one long argument in the direction that the Mayor wish's it to go!

I have a feeling that the Mayor would blame everything on the Council of Ministers and to make sure that all sides are heard a member of the Council should also be invited or this will spiral out of control. Now is the time for legal representation to be present!

helendj · Post by **helendj** » Mon 07 Nov 2016 1:53 pm

Does anyone know the time and venue of Thursday's meeting?

johnerebus · Post by **johnerebus** » Mon 07 Nov 2016 4:42 pm

In the Esentepe cinema Friday at 18.00 with a translator

helendj · Post by **helendj** » Mon 07 Nov 2016 4:59 pm

Thanks very much johnerebus, much appreciated!

johnerebus · Post by **johnerebus** » Tue 08 Nov 2016 5:30 am

Esentepe Municipality:
There will be an information meeting to be held for all the people of the Esentepe region at Esentepe Cultural Palace on November 11 november, at 18:30, about the water topic. The whole community is invited.
There will be an English translator.
Please everybody come if you can.

johnerebus · Post by **johnerebus** » Thu 10 Nov 2016 9:55 am

The Ombudsman will be meeting the Mayor at 9.30 Monday morning. For those who are still thinking about complaining to him about the water they should do it before Friday.

The site again is:

http://www.ombudsman.gov.ct.tr/

helendj · Post by **helendj** » Thu 10 Nov 2016 10:37 am

Again, thank you johnerebus for the information provided. I heard from our water man yesterday that the meters come from Turkey, and they cost 300 tl - if that is true how on earth will he explain charging over 2,000 tl for one? Should be an interesting meeting Friday evening, or will it be a complete whitewash - time will tell - I just hope that if the powers that be have any decency, this Mayor will be given a vote of no confidence and chucked out - but can anyone of us see that happening - I very much doubt it. Lets just hope that justice will prevail.

Art · Post by **Art** » Thu 10 Nov 2016 11:15 am

I think the mayor will only make concessions if he is instructed to do so by the Council of Miniters or a senior member of the government.

His rationale for the excessive costs will be linked to the current level of dept which the government will no longer shore up.

Can't see him resigning or being fired.

tomsteel · Post by **tomsteel** » Thu 10 Nov 2016 12:16 pm

Hi again Art.

I think your first point is correct.

I am told by a UK qualified solicitor neighbour that:
He cannot inflate a cost for a specific commodity to offset a debt incurred for another commodity. I know not, but that appears sensible.
He can resign, but cannot be fired as he is an elected official. He has to be voted out at a formal meeting. Does that sound reasonable?

Art · Post by **Art** » Thu 10 Nov 2016 7:30 pm

Maybe he can't but the government can.

I don't think he has personally determined the prices but he's happy to go with them in order to clear the outstanding debt and he has the government support.

And yes you are right about your second point,

kiplet · Post by **kiplet** » Sat 12 Nov 2016 7:29 am

I heard a public meeting took place in the last few days Esentepe way concerning charges for the new water supply.
Could this be a future template for the rest of us regarding supply of water ?
Did any one attend the meeting ?

BrightonJim · Post by **BrightonJim** » Sat 12 Nov 2016 9:45 am

I assume last night's meeting took place and some of those who posted the the 110 pre-meeting messages attended.
Would someone please post a message summarising what took place?
Many thanks

helendj · Post by **helendj** » Sat 12 Nov 2016 2:46 pm

Hi BrightonJim,
Yes we did attend last night, as did quite a lot of others, but to be frank in my opinion, it was a complete farce. The so called translator hardly did his job, and someone else had to stand in to explain what the Mayor was saying. Basically it was, as I expected, a PR session. The poor Mayor was telling us how much money he had to spend on putting the infrastructure in, to the tune of nearly tl4 million, and that the rise in the cost was down to the government and not him. Basically we have to pay virtually half the cost before the end of December, with the remainder being paid, if needed, on an installment basis for the next year, so a little respite there then. What he did explain to my husband after the meeting had finished was that they would provide the pipes up to the site, but from there connection to the houses would be the householders' responsibility. But he did state quite specifically that the tanker deliveries from independent people would stop at the end of the year. He also told my husband that in about 4-5 months time the government were going to seal all wells - in other words, we do not have any choice but to pay this charlatan as we won't have any recourse, especially if wells are sealed as per government rules. Half of the audience left when they realised that we weren't going to get anywhere - the Mayor did state that the government had inspected his books, and all was well, i.e. he hadn't ripped off income into the Belediye (yeah right). But he is being seen by the Ombudsman on Monday. Unfortunately I do not have much faith in any of these so called 'inspections' - he is determined that we will pay, there is no quarter on that, despite the fact that he's a bloody rip off merchant. But we do not have any choice, and unfortunately that is what it boils down to. Hope this explains to you the current situation.

Mollie the cat · Post by **Mollie the cat** » Sat 12 Nov 2016 4:37 pm

If they do seal the wells that will be the last straw for us, we will be off in a heartbeat, enough is enough!!!

Keithcaley · Post by **Keithcaley** » Sat 12 Nov 2016 5:17 pm

I think that the idea is that this will allow the water table to recover from being depleted year after year, which has led to the ingress of sea water into the underground water reserves in some areas.

I'm sure that I read somewhere that this is part of the North Cyprus Water Supply Protocol, which was implemented as part of the 'pipeline agreement' between TRNC and Turkey - that the body responsible for water distribution would take control of the Total water supplies of the Country, in order to restore fertility to the areas where the soil has become salinated.

Unfortunately, try as I will, I cannot find the reference

This does not detract from the fact that the Esentepe Mayor seems to be taking advantage of the situation of course!

The other aspect is, that to the best of my belief, with all 'New Builds' it is is the responsibility of the Builder / Developer to ensure that all houses are connected to essential utilities at no extra cost to the house buyers (apart from the cost of meter deposits / rental) - i.e. the cost of necessary infrastructure should be included in the purchase price of the property...

Some builders may well have 'got around this' - in the case of water supply - by the provision of on-site wells, which might have seemed reasonable at the time, but with this new situation, doesn't seem to be reasonable at all!

Of course, the further away that any new developments were from major population centres, the greater the difficulty (and cost!) would be to provide services such as water, and the greater the incentive to look for a way around the requirement!

From the information available, I think that it seems to be almost inevitable that eventually - where practicable - everyone will be forced to accept that they will have to rely on Belediye-supplied water - either 'Piped Turkish water' or supplied by tankers licenced by the Belediye - but it seems to me that the tragedy is that the builders / developers have got away without bearing the cost of this essential utility...

Given the state of the Construction Industry, I doubt whether many of the Builders of 10 years ago - the 'Boom years' - are still around to be challenged on this aspect

waddo · Post by **waddo** » Sat 12 Nov 2016 6:32 pm

My only thought on the "sealing of wells" idea is this - If wells are to be sealed and this must of course mean that ALL wells will be sealed (including those in use by the various Belideye - that of course they would not continue to use to top up their holding tanks, at a much smaller cost than that of the Turkish water!!!) then the poor farmers would have to start paying some horrendous bills for their water!
This extra cost would have to be passed on to the consumer of the farm products and that - if you consider that given current cost of water at say 2TL per unit now going to increase to an average of 5TL per unit - "should" at a minimum, double the price of produce across the whole of the country!
Or have I read this all wrong???? Because if I have not read it wrong then the Government - at a single blow - will have to rely on imported products and find a use for hundreds of thousands of donum of now unfarmed land!

Keithcaley · Post by **Keithcaley** » Sat 12 Nov 2016 8:12 pm

Waddo, not only that...

In Alsancak, where the price for Belediye-supplied water started at 50 Krs a Ton, this will seriously affect the low income families who live in tiny houses, with no pools, and who grow their own vegetables...

cjtill · Post by **cjtill** » Sun 13 Nov 2016 8:58 am

From what I can establish from my TC neighbour, the well on an individuals property will not be affected, but if you are running a business supplying water then this well will become the property of the Government.
All this means is that tanker drivers will be severly restricted as to where they can obtain water.
Michael

the butler · Post by **the butler** » Mon 14 Nov 2016 10:30 am

I was approached yesterday and asked if I had joined the protest group for the Esentepe area water costs. I do not know anything about this
but would like more information. If anyone who is reading this has knowledge of this group, please pm me.

The butler

tomsteel · Post by **tomsteel** » Mon 14 Nov 2016 11:29 am

PM just sent.

kiplet · Post by **kiplet** » Thu 17 Nov 2016 5:40 pm

I'm really confused here ??
With reference to the water project from Turkey how come some Beledeyse are charging for the new water pipes supply etc when other Beledeyse Do not appear to be making any charges at at all ??

tomsteel · Post by **tomsteel** » Thu 17 Nov 2016 7:26 pm

kiplet, therein lies the quandary. It would appear central government has given each municipality free rein to charge what it wants.

Fesenjan123 · Post by **Fesenjan123** » Mon 21 Nov 2016 5:44 pm

Is there any further update to this charade? I heard that the Mayor met with the Ombudsman last week. Can anyone confirm if that was true and if so, did anything come of it? I suspect not, as there has been nothing reported.

kiplet · Post by **kiplet** » Wed 23 Nov 2016 6:53 am

This Ombudsman is very new to me in TRNC
Does any one know
How many Ombudsman are in TRNC ?
How do you contact a Ombudsman ?
What recognition does a Ombudsman have in the TRNC ?

tomsteel · Post by **tomsteel** » Wed 23 Nov 2016 9:18 am

kiplet, as far as I am aware there is only 1 ombudsman (actually a female). There is a TRNC Governmental website for contact. She has no legal powers, but her independent advice after her investigation is normally accepted by the Council of Ministers, judiciary etc. She cannot investigate if the case has involved the law (ie somebody is taking legal action against somebody else).

helendj · Post by **helendj** » Wed 23 Nov 2016 1:51 pm

Have I missed something? I bought Cyprus Today, expecting there to be a report on that farcical meeting with the Mayor - and there was nothing - I checked last week's paper and obviously it was too soon for anything to go in there, but nothing in this week's. Who was the photographer, which paper did he work for? Anyone know anything?

kiplet · Post by **kiplet** » Wed 23 Nov 2016 2:30 pm

Thank you Tomsteel

kiplet · Post by **kiplet** » Fri 25 Nov 2016 9:29 am

Tomsteel
Can you post link to TRNC government website
I have tried but cannot find

tomsteel · Post by **tomsteel** » Fri 25 Nov 2016 10:36 am

I will PM it to you. However, she has now asked for all future complaints on Esentepe water issues to be coordinated through the Committee she is dealing with, not as individual complaints. So, if your issue is about the water, please send it to David Lofty, who is on Facebook.

kiplet · Post by **kiplet** » Fri 25 Nov 2016 11:23 am

Thanks Tom steel.
I would appreciate the PM as my interest is not entirely water project connected.
Thanks again

tomsteel · Post by **tomsteel** » Fri 25 Nov 2016 12:30 pm

kiplet, PM sent earlier. Received? If not, send your email address and I'll send the link.

carrierbag · Post by **carrierbag** » Sat 26 Nov 2016 6:54 am

Helendj.....the photographer was Umut who works for the Mayor. To my knowledge there was no-one present from Cyprus Today. Perhaps no-one told them of the meeting?

helendj · Post by **helendj** » Sat 26 Nov 2016 1:39 pm

Thank you carrierbag for that info. Its a pity that no press were present and a little surprising - oh well, ce la vie

SussexBoy · Post by **SussexBoy** » Wed 04 Jan 2017 6:56 pm

It's been 6 weeks since the last posting on the Esentepe water situation. Are there any updates? Have all tanker deliveries definitely been banned from the end of December 2016 or has there been a charge of heart?

We already had a water meter for household supplies but have used tankers to fill the pool. If tanker deliveries have now been banned, there are an awful lot of people to will need to install pipelines from the users' site of their water meters to their pools. Any advice/comments would be welcomed.

Briannu · Post by **Briannu** » Wed 04 Jan 2017 9:31 pm

We left Olive Grove in November to return to UK early for christmas due to the water shortage. Our owners have paid the money for the pipework and still nothing has been done, what a disgrace. Any information would be welcome as in Olive Grove tankers are very rare, I am told. We are lucky as our tenancy ends soon and if this is not sorted thats it with Cyprus.

kiplet · Post by **kiplet** » Thu 05 Jan 2017 6:02 am

I feel sure a face book page is up and running for info, not sure of page name, does any one know ?

Quite a few people I have spoken to from Esentepe way have also said it's the last straw for them coupled up with the latest talk of 20% electricity hike they also remarked that they would be leaving Cyprus.

Dalartokat · Post by **Dalartokat** » Thu 05 Jan 2017 9:20 am

kiplet wrote:I feel sure a face book page is up and running for info, not sure of page name, does any one know ?

Quite a few people I have spoken to from Esentepe way have also said it's the last straw for them coupled up with the latest talk of 20% electricity hike they also remarked that they would be leaving Cyprus.

Found this one, although last November......will keep looking...................https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q= ... 20campaign

This might be the main one..............https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=esentepe%20water

Second link above not working for some reason, well not for me anyway. Perhaps you might be able to contact the lead person to ask.

SussexBoy · Post by **SussexBoy** » Wed 08 Mar 2017 1:25 pm

It's all gone very quiet on the water tanker situation in Esentepe. Was the tanker ban imposed from the end of last year or are tanker deliveries still being made - hopefully not at last years' extortionate prices?

GyorkshireGill · Post by **GyorkshireGill** » Wed 08 Mar 2017 5:20 pm

We are still getting tanker water delivered and it is still at the price we were paying last year i.e. 15 TL per tonne.

BrightonJim · Post by **BrightonJim** » Thu 09 Mar 2017 9:17 am

Carrington tankers have been banned from making water deliveries. I do not know if they have been singled out or there is another reason why they are off the road.
Has anybody more information on this please?

BrightonJim · Post by **BrightonJim** » Thu 09 Mar 2017 3:53 pm

I've just been told that Carrington tankers, having been temporarily seized by the Municipality, are now back on the road and water deliveries to their developments have resumed.
Does anybody know what that was all about please?

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