The Rambler
Here we go again
In today’s Cyprus Today, the Government, Construction Union, Advocates and the Estate Agents Union all blame one another for the decline in the construction industry and in turn the economy. I agree they are all severally and individually to blame, the only group who have acted honourably are the victims of all these groups and the HBPG. We hold the moral high ground; we have evidence of illegal activity and abuses perpetrated by all these sectors of the economy and have reported them to the PCO as requested by the Government. The HBPG has tried to keep the problems within the construction industry in-house, with the express aim of helping our adopted country as opposed to destroying it.
I was saddened to see that an initial meeting set up between all interested parties to start working together was ignored by one powerful Union Leader. The head of the Construction Union (or should we start calling it the Construction Mafia) Mr Cafer Gürcafer failed to attend.
Who does Mr Gürcafer blame for the current situation? Firstly he blames the Estate Agents Union for bringing in the Estate Agents Law for negatively impacting the housing market. This is laughable, the Government brought in the EAL, to give some sort of protection to the buyers who had none previously, the new law protects buyers from Mr Gürcafer’s builders behaving illegally!
Mr Gürcafer and his Union want to be able to continue to mortgage land and property already sold. There are currently many unfinished properties where the land has been mortgaged and the mortgage has not been honoured due to the builder going bankrupt or simply disappearing - these properties will never be finished. Mr Gürcafer says this is how business is done in the UK, yet another twist to the truth by this Honourable man, as in the UK before a builder can get such a mortgage he must have provable assets of his own (not sold to a third party) and safeguards in place plus insurance which is a far cry from what Mr Gürcafer is suggesting, which is no safeguards for innocent buyers at all.
Now Mr Gürcafer’s Union is exerting pressure on the Government to soften the law, you can guess which parts, the parts where the buyer is left with no protection.
Through the grapevine I have heard the Government is thinking of doing what this Union wants, how can they even consider such a retrospective move?
Now let me tell you a story - Mr Gürcafer had a meeting with three victims of one of his registered builders sometime in 2006/7. This meeting was witnessed by Marian of the HBPG, at this meeting Mr Gürcafer was given pictures and evidence of the builders misdeeds, Mr Gürcafer was appalled and his words, ashamed.
At the meeting Mr Gürcafer said that the Government were bestowing on his Union, new powers to deal with this exact sort of thing, which a couple of months later the Government did.
He could close people like this builder and the 300 illegal builders down with the powers his union would be given or so he informed us, does he have these powers or not, or was it all just rhetoric?
What happened about this builder, nothing.
What I cannot understand are the powerful and influential builders in this Union.
If all illegal builders were closed down and their assets and money seized to finish the projects they started illegally, using legitimate union members to complete the works, it would be a win, win situation for legitimate builders and buyers alike. We ask where are the honourable legitimate builders, where is your courage?
There is only one builder that I know of has stood up and tried to do something, Mr Ali Safa, love him or not, at least he tried to warn the Government where the building boom and behaviour of some builders would lead, he also suggested a meeting between all parties involved just recently. So I do believe there are some powerful builders out there, who can see that by removing the illegal and poor quality builders, the legitimate members of the Union would all benefit and the Union would become stronger because of it.
This is a message for Mr Gürcafer we, the victims, will not allow you or your Union to blackmail, intimidate or hold us to ransom by trying to change what is right and just, we will fight you here and if necessary internationally, you should know the message you are sending to all would-be-buyers, that you wish to return to the good old days of fraud, deceit, blackmail and intimidation. We suggest you shape up or ship out; you are an obstacle to reversing the decline in the construction industry.
06 July 2008