Government seeks further Akamas consultations

THE GOVERNMENT is still seeking to find a compromise on the management of the Akamas that will take the concerns of local residents into account.

“In such cases, if we do not have the consent of the local communities things cannot move forward,” Agriculture Minister Costas Themistocleous said after a meeting of the ministerial committee on the Akamas yesterday morning.

Environmentalists have long campaigned for the protection of the pristine area as a National Park – a principle adopted by the state. But local residents want the freedom to develop their Akamas beach-front properties.

The minister said the recommendations of a government-commissioned World Bank report on the management of the remote peninsula still formed the template for government thinking.

“At all levels in government, the general approach is that the solution will come through the adoption of the philosophy of the World Bank report,” he said.

The report, released two years ago, recommends that development in the ecologically sensitive area be restricted to within existing village boundaries, with the rest of the area protected as a wildlife park. The report was welcomed by local greens but not by Akamas area residents.

“There are certain thoughts for marrying the World Bank report with the positions of the local communities,” Themistocleous said.

The minister said the government would be ready to consider some form of compensation system for local residents whose land would be rendered closed to development by inclusion in a National Park.

He said the government was keen to see the Akamas question resolved as soon as possible, but the relevant ministerial committee would have to have further meetings to further consider the positions of all concerned.

On the committee are Themistocleous, Commerce Minister Nicos Rolandis, Interior Minister Dinos Michaelides and representatives of the Finance and Communications & Works ministries.

“We all see the matter as urgent,” Themistocleous said. “The communities want to know as soon as possible what is going to happen to the area. The government wants to implement a plan for the designation of the area as a National Park but without the interests of the residents in the area being ignored,” the minister said.

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