The Paphos sewage truck owners announced on Monday an indefinite strike after the town’s sewerage board (SAPA) reduced their hours and told them it would charge them more for processing waste in a number of areas which are not serviced by the authority.
The owners of four companies have parked their ten trucks, full of sewage, outside SAPA’s biological waste station in Acheleia after they were denied entrance to empty their tanks.
According to their representative, Louis Antoniou, their grievances are because the SAPA board has decided to reduce their working hours.
Ever since it was founded, Antoniou told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA), SAPA’s working hours were until 6.30pm on weekdays and 2.30pm on Saturdays, whereas now they work until 3pm on weekdays and no longer work on Saturdays.
He added that SAPA also sent them a letter informing them that they would charge them €1 per tonne management fee for sewage waste collected from areas that are not covered by the SAPA sewerage network. This fee will not be charged for sewage collected from within the municipalities of Paphos, Kissonerga, Lemba, Chlorakas, Emba, Konia and Acheleia.
Antoniou said SAPA refused their request to wait for ten days to give them time to discuss this with their customers.
He said that such a fee is not applicable for the sewerage boards of Nicosia, Larnaca and Ayia Napa, and that sewage truck owners now pay €0.40 per tonne.
Paphos mayor Phedonas Phedonos told the CNA that the management fee was a decision for the SAPA board.
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