Green protest at forest development plan

THE ASSOCIATION of Cyprus Environmental groups yesterday called on the government to intervene to block plans for a sports complex in the Polemidia forest outside Limassol.

The greens urged the plans’s backers – Limassol Municipality and national sports body Koa – to “finally show some environmental sensitivity and abandon their plans to grab part of the Polemidia state forest park.”

The association said forest land was limited and should not be used “to satisfy the needs of those who do not want to have to pay to purchase non- forest land.”

Agriculture Minister Andreas Mantovanis should “close the issue” by opposing the plan, the greens said, adding that the ministry had repeatedly stated it was against the proposed development.

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.