Statement by the Head of Energy & Environment Policy of AKEL Christina Nikolaou on the AKAMA administrative inquiry

 

6 December 2023, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

The Minister of Agriculture was forced to carry out an administrative investigation into the illegalities and non-implementation of the legally binding conditions of the Special Ecological Assessment for the construction of the road network of the Akamas National Forest Park, following complaints and pressure exerted from environmental organisations and the relevant Parliamentary Committee.

The administrative investigation confirms what AKEL has been pointing out from the outset.

However, it is truly astonishing that, while so many violations of the law are identified and there are deviations from the legally binding conditions, no responsibility is attributed.

The administrative investigation leads to three conclusions.

Firstly, there is a need, as we have repeatedly stressed, for a comprehensive reassessment of the design and implementation of the sustainable development plan for the Akamas National Forest Park.

Secondly, there is an admission by the Minister himself that there were omissions and non-transparency in the actual planning and impacts of the construction projects, whose plans were not presented by the competent authority before the ad-hoc committee that evaluated the Special Ecological Assessment study.

Thirdly, the Forest Department, as the Department responsible for projects within a Forest Area, could have intervened and prevented everything that happened, but it did not do so.

It is therefore clear that the government and the Minister have responsibilities and they must assume them.