New Akamas mayor calls for national park to open

A two-year delay in the Akamas national park’s operation and a number of other loose ends must be definitively dealt with, newly elected Mayor of Akamas Marinos Lambrou said on Monday.

The new mayor has his work cut out for him, being tasked with forging ahead on a number of hotly contested issues.

The various outstanding matters are of great concern to his constituents and the state seems to have no definite plan for addressing them, Lambrou said.

“For two years, despite the initial approval of the local plan, of which we are in favour, we are just going from study to study,” the mayor told state broadcaster CyBC.

“People are losing income from successive tourist seasons due to the park remaining closed,” as well as from farmland, which is going unused, Lambrou said.

Delays and half-finished works, as well as the partial opening of the park, are an injustice to his constituents, the mayor said, which can’t be permitted to drag on.

Among these, the stalled road networks must be completed as soon as possible to ease access for all, Lambrou said. Initially, the agriculture ministry had said roadworks would resume in October, which was later brought forward to September.

However, stakeholders have yet to agree on how to proceed. Environmental organisations and the Green party have called for a radical re-think of the initially proposed network and ethos, including, most recently for a ban on quad bikes, an untenable demand as far as the local rental agencies are concerned.

Compensation for landowners who lost development rights in the area have also been frozen. The matter is outstanding since April 2023 when landowners had last attempted to hold ministers to task.

“If you take someone’s land rights you must offer compensation,” Lambrou said. “This need not be a monetary sum, it could take the form of long-term leasing or increased building coefficient on other land owned,” he said, emphasising that this aspect concerns the local development plan and not the Akamas national forest park.

Residents have seen the value of their property decline for 30 years and are now blocked from using it, even for agriculture, the mayor said.

Elsewhere, water for agriculture and livestock has become a matter of contention, particularly in Ineia, with the community at loggerheads with the Greens over the legality of pipelines being laid.

Lambrou said he is discussing all issues with the Green party leadership, as well as with other party leaders who will be visiting his municipality.

Despite the slew of thorny issues, the Akamas mayor said the newly consolidated municipality is “dynamic” and running smoothly, and staff are keen to carry out the necessary work.

The mayor was less positive about the newly established Paphos district self-governance organisation (EOA).

“We have had a lot of problems with the EOA as a municipality, particularly where water management is concerned,” he said.

Peyia has been beset with water cuts to one of its residential areas all summer, an unacceptable situation, which he will also be bringing to an upcoming meeting between authorities in September, Lambrou said.