Work to begin soon on second desalination plant

WORK on the island’s second major desalination plant, outside Larnaca, is to begin “soon”, Government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou announced yesterday.

Papapetrou said a contract had now been signed for construction of a plant near Larnaca airport. The plant would be completed within 75 weeks, the spokesman said.

The government sees desalination as the solution to the island’s chronic water shortage problems.

A plant operating at Dhekelia already provides 40,000 tonnes of fresh water a day.

Despite strong opposition from local residents, the government has also promised to forge ahead with plans for a mobile plant at Zakaki, Limassol.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.