Mehmet Harmancı: The end of this is chaos and administrative vacuum

Nicosia Turkish Municipality (LTB) President Mehmet Harmancı made a statement to the Cyprus Post regarding the municipal reform, the borrowing and candidacy of the NTM.

“THE SAME OF WHAT HAPPENED IN PERSONAL LIFE HAS HAPPENED TO MUNICIPALITIES”

Emphasizing that diesel, electricity, oil, spare parts and operating costs are increasing 3 times every day, Harmancı said that the same things that happen in personal life are also happening in local governments.

Stating that the Law on Local Administrations has not changed since 1995, Harmancı stated that income items have remained the same and life has always been expensive.

Emphasizing that diesel costs have increased by approximately 7 million TL and electricity costs have increased by approximately 3 times, NTB Chairman Harmancı noted that personnel salaries increased by 37.5 percent in January, causing a burden of 117 million TL in the budget.

Stating that they were asked to find a formula on their own after what happened, Harmancı used the following statements:

“There are certain methodologies in the world and in our country. If you provide adequate financing opportunities, you can go beyond it. If you want to create income items, you have to open and reform within the framework of the law.

"THE ANNUAL DIESEL CHARGE OF GARBAGE TROLLEYS IS TWICE OUR CLEANING TAX"

There has been an unstable economic situation since 2018. Twice there is a currency crisis, a pandemic and a Ukraine-Russia war. It's an environment that changes the balance and turns it upside down. What needs to be done is very clear. Municipalities Law should be updated immediately. Our cleaning and health costs should come to current figures. LTB has 15 garbage trucks. If they are traveling on 15 routes, the cost is 15 thousand TL with the current diesel per night. Each garbage truck is thousand TL. When we calculate this with 365 days, it is roughly twice our annual cleaning tax, excluding personnel.”

“WE GOING WAY FAR FROM A LIVABLE MODEL”

Harmancı, who stated that a viable model is far from being passed, stated that the relevant items of the law should be opened and that Development Bank loans should be made available to local governments on a project basis.

“COUNTRY IS CONTINUOUS INTO AN ENVIRONMENT WITHOUT PREPARED GROUND”

Harmancı, who also spoke about the municipalities reform put forward by the government recently, stated that the country is hastily drifting towards an environment that is not well prepared.

Harmancı stated that what was presented to the municipalities was their drowning in the economic crisis, and said that in this case, mergers would be easier.

“RELATED TO RUSH THE REFORM, CUSTOMIZING WATER AND SEWAGE”

Harmancı said that he thinks that the haste of the municipal reform is related to the privatization of water and sewerage in the TR-TRNC Water Supply Project. Harmancı, everyone says reform; but he stated that there was no one who spoke fully about its content.

“UNION OF MUNICIPALITIES DOES NOT TRANSFER INFORMATION”

Emphasizing that the Union of Municipalities does not convey information to them and the government only shares information with the municipalities close to it, Harmancı stated that UBP has developed a position and determined some roadmap regarding the number of municipalities13 municipalities. Stating that there are models about municipalities in different countries, Harmancı said, "There is no country that takes this event as lightly as we do." said.

Stating that NTM is the capital and the municipality of firsts, Harmancı said, “Unfortunately, we have not been heard, our views have not been consulted yet and this process cannot be managed. He also pointed out that the process in the south of Cyprus took 2.5 years.

Harmancı said that there is a need for a process because there is no scientific study such as what the duties of branch supervisors and managers will be, how the staff will be arranged, and which tool will provide optimum service to people per square meter.

"The end of this is chaos and administrative vacuum," said Harmancı, adding that the reform should be taken seriously.

Harmancı said, “Do a proper job so that the first priority is the well-being and good life of the Turkish Cypriot people. Municipalities are badly managed and they will unite. With whom will they unite the state and the government? While the debt that the state receives every month is in the middle, the problems of the municipalities are talked about, which is affected by the economic crises created by the governments.

“THE BRAVE PEOPLE LEAD IT TO THE JUDICIARY, STARTING FROM THEIR OWN MAYORS”

There are also crises created by the municipalities themselves. There are overemployment and populist practices. Auditor's office. We have no immunity. If they are brave, let them take them to the judiciary, starting with their own mayor.” he said.

Speaking about the 30 million TL borrowing of LTB, Harmancı stated that the use of finance is a very common economy-recovery model in the world and in the country.