BirdLife Cyprus has sent open letters to the Department of Town Planning and Housing and the Department of Environment raising questions and seeking clarifications about the permitting process and conditions for the proposed port at Pentakomo.
Discrepancies in construction quantities
The letters highlight what the organisation calls huge discrepancies between the quantities of materials cited in the project’s Environmental Opinion and those in the government tender documents. BirdLife argues this means the project was assessed on incorrect data, obscuring its real needs and impacts.
Natura 2000 designation still pending
BirdLife also notes delays in adding the Agios Georgios Alamanou area to the Natura 2000 network, leaving a critical area without the necessary statutory protection.
Further concerns relate to potential “salami-slicing” of the environmental assessment, as the asphalting of the access road to the port is planned but was not included in the original evaluation.
The group points to potential non-compliance with the Planning Approval. While planners had set conditions to keep warehouses to a minimum and to consider consolidation to reduce visual impact on the area’s white cliffs, the tender’s construction drawings reportedly show eight separate buildings, raising serious compliance questions.
Call for transparency and accountability
BirdLife Cyprus director Melpo Apostolidou said the Pentakomo case exposes serious weaknesses in how environmental assessments are conducted and project permits issued in Cyprus. From major discrepancies in construction materials to possible breaches of set conditions, she argued, citizens have a right to the truth, transparency and accountability.
CNA sourced reporting
