GREENS are up in arms over the felling of 5,000 trees, which commenced in Paphos last week, to make way for the new road which will eventually connect the tourist area of the town with the airport.
“People have been complaining to me over the last few days but it’s too little too late,” Andreas Evlavis, the Paphos district secretary of the Green party told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.
It’s estimated that around 5,000 trees will be felled in order to make way for the new road.
The road in question will connect Paphos airport with the main tourist road in Kato Paphos, joining the town at the area known locally as ‘Kaligulas roundabout.’
Evlavis is angry over criticism which is being levelled at the Green party- that they have done nothing to prevent the situation.
“I am very upset and angry about the Paphians who are now complaining that we (the Greens) have done nothing to prevent these trees from being cut. This is completely untrue. We have been trying to fight the construction of this road for a long time and have done so publicly. Now, because some trees have been cut, people realise the situation.”
Evlavis added that this behaviour was typical in Cyprus.
“We always react after the event when it’s too late, instead of getting up and doing something about it before it happens.”
Evlavis said that the contactor had already cut some of the doomed trees in the area of Ezousa and Achelia in Paphos last week; starting in this area as it is, ‘away from the glare of the public eye.’
“These beautiful tall trees are growing in lines and I wonder how people are going to react when they see thousands of them lying on the ground. They will realise how the landscape will change and they will miss it.”
According to Evlavis the 4-km stretch of road will see thousands of trees of various types being torn out.
“Those in favour of the road kept pushing for it to be approved, even though the first environmental impact studies of the project came back as negative. They have managed to get the go ahead the third time. They always manage to find a solution when there are a lot of interested parties behind a project, even if it’s a waste of money and will harm the environment.”
Evlavis said that specialists had put forward a solution which could have saved most of the trees.
“It would’ve been possible to build the road on either side if the trees as they are growing in straight lines. The specialists said it was easy to move the road 10 or 20 metres as there aren’t any mountains or excavations of this sort involved. But it was turned down because of the people backing the project.”
Local Paphos MP and chairman of the House Environment Committee, Andreas Facontis previously said that the possibility of placing the road in a different area had been dismissed adding that the road was important.
Mayors of the two municipalities concerned – Yeroskipou Mayor Tassos Kousapos and Paphos Mayor Savvas Vergas – support this view.
Vergas had warned that Paphos would intervene dynamically for the road to go ahead without any further delays.
Kousapos assured that although some trees may be lost in the process, some 6,000 new trees and bushes would be planted along the new road side.
Evlavis said: ”The Paphos MPs and other officials see the road as a step forward. In Cyprus, a new road is always seen as progress, such as the proposed Paphos to Polis road, which is ridiculous. The new road will be of no use to residents of Paphos and won’t suddenly make more people visit Paphos. The road will only connect the airport to the hotels in the tourist area in Kato Paphos.”
Evlavis added that the project was an unnecessary waste of money which would cut the current travelling time from the airport to the town by only five minutes and would have a huge adverse affect on the environment.
