Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou, informed Parliament on Monday about the projects planned for 2026 concerning the damaged and scandal-plagued Integrated Waste Management Facility in Pentakomo.
Presenting her ministry’s budget, the minister said that within the first quarter of 2026, the feasibility study for waste management in Cyprus based on an integrated infrastructure network is expected to be signed. This study, she noted, will determine the scope of a full upgrade for both the Pentakomo and Kosi facilities.
“Within 2026, we will also have new contractors in place, including for the interim phase of upgrading the existing infrastructure,” she stressed.
Criminal and disciplinary proceedings
The above concerns the effort to restart operations at the Pentakomo facility, with the project’s completion expected by 2029. According to information available, the plant’s machinery is currently non-functional, resulting in 100% landfill disposal, contrary to European legislation.
What remains unclear, however, is whether criminal proceedings will be initiated over this situation, following a 200-page investigation report currently with the Legal Service since November 2023. The inquiry was ordered by former Agriculture Minister Costas Kadis and ran from November 2019 to February 2023. At the same time, the ministry has yet to decide whether administrative sanctions will be imposed.
The facility began operations in November 2017 at a cost of approximately €42 million. Although EU funds were included with the condition that they be used to produce fuel (SRF), illegal disposal of most waste began from the early stages of operation. The machinery was gradually damaged, leading to the current state, which reportedly requires 100% landfill.
Since 2013, when the project tender was announced, until mid-2017, responsibility lay with the Ministry of the Interior before being transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Following the submission of the report to the Ministry of Agriculture in February 2023, the government terminated the contract with the operating company. Since December 2023, management of the facility has been undertaken by the Water Development Department (WDD). This has led to legal proceedings between the Republic of Cyprus and the company.
Current situation
The poor condition of the facility’s machinery was confirmed publicly on 22 July 2024 by the current Agriculture Minister, Maria Panayiotou.
“The WDD generally received a very problematic situation, essentially having to take charge of a facility requiring substantial improvement. Many of the machines were - and still are - in poor condition. We are working closely and diligently with the WDD team to repair this very bad situation we inherited, but there is certainly no question of indifference,” she said on the television programme Alpha Enimerosi.
Meanwhile, environmental organisations have begun denouncing the disposal of thousands of tonnes of untreated municipal, medical and even hazardous waste. They report that communities surrounding the Pentakomo facility find the situation unbearable, as piles of rubbish are left under the scorching sun, producing an overwhelming stench.
The organisations claim that waste is being dumped outside the plant’s reception area by municipal collection trucks from Limassol and nearby communities, then loaded onto other vehicles and buried in the landfill - contravening both Cypriot and EU law.
Plans for proper operation
In December 2024, during a session of the House Environment Committee, Panayiotou presented the timelines for the proper functioning of the Pentakomo and Kosi facilities. She stated that construction work at the facilities was scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2028, with the new upgraded facilities to be delivered in 2029.
For Kosi, she referred to the need to repair equipment; for Pentakomo, to upgrades to the site itself. Due to the long-term nature of the plan, she explained, it was deemed necessary to include interim actions to relieve pressure on the facilities.
The minister added that, in preparing the plan, the ministry worked with JASPERS (Joint Assistance to Support Projects in European Regions). Following their advice, a feasibility study was deemed essential to assess the performance of existing infrastructure, the need for new facilities, and the potential for energy recovery from processed waste residues.
In the same session, the minister noted that since 19 December 2023, when the WDD took over, 90 contracts had to be concluded to enable the Pentakomo facility to operate, at a total cost of €1.2 million.