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ONE death, an average of 20 compensation claims for damaged cars a week and continued fears over public safety: welcome to Paphos where nearly 300 kilometres of roads are being worked on at the same time.

It’s a massive project involving laying storm drains, upgrading sewerage works, and relaying electricity and telephone lines in Paphos and the surrounding villages. The works are due to end in 2011, but the scale of the disruption has been such that residents are in for a very long year.

Residents complain that even where road works in Paphos have been finished, road surfaces remain bumpy and full of dangerous potholes.

To make matters worse, in addition to the kilometres of roads being dug up for sewerage works, a part of the town’s ring road is being constructed, leading to more delays, appalling road surfaces and misery for drivers. This project runs from Konia roundabout to Viofos junction, and will not be completed before the start of 2011.This busy road is also the main thoroughfare to Paphos general hospital.

In the most recent serious incident, a concrete mixer and a double cabin truck became trapped in a deep ditch last week after a residential road collapsed in Chlorakas in Paphos, where upgrading sewerage works were underway.

“The road is sinking everywhere, it’s damaging the pipes being laid and also the cars,” said Roger Brooke who has lived in the street for 20 years.

“We’ve been complaining about this for about four months now, it’s a nightmare trying to go down the road; there are rocks and the huge holes. It’s a death waiting to happen.”

The first phase of the upgrading work, which started in 1999 and was completed in 2003, covered 130km of sewerage works and a further 25 km for storm drains. The second phase commenced in 2007 and is due to finish in 2011. This phase covers a total of 250km of sewerage works and 40km of storm drains. The work covers all roads in Paphos and surrounding villages such as Kissonerga, Chlorokas and Lemba.

“I have damaged three tyres on the roads so far and my husband badly damaged his car when he drove over a deep hole in the road which wasn’t visible or marked in any way,” said Debbie Millet of Paphos. “He is claiming compensation. But it concerns me that there could be another fatality if the correct preventative measures are not in place.”

Millet was referring to the death last June of a British holidaymaker in Paphos.

Diki James Lierd, 54, was returning to his hotel from a pub on the Tomb of the Kings road when he fell to his death down a seven-metre ditch where part of the second phase of the sewerage plan of Paphos was underway.

Health and safety inspector George Katsanouris, who is dealing with the tragic case, told the Sunday Mail negligence at the site played a part in the death of the man.

“The man tried to cross over where there was a deep excavation .He fell in and unfortunately was pronounced dead at the scene.”

Katsanouris said his department launched an investigation to determine what actually happened and why.

“We undertook our investigation and the report was concluded a couple of weeks ago. We have our findings, but as we haven’t published them as yet, I don’t have the authority to advise you of our exact findings.”

But the labour inspector did say that instances of negligence had been uncovered and that further action would be taken.

Eftichious Malakidies the district engineer of SABBA – the Paphos sewerage board which is in charge of the works - admitted that there were problems but pointed out that he believed they were doing the best in the circumstances.

“For instance the services, such as electricity, water and telephone are located in the middle of the roads, as they were installed years ago and have to be removed and re-laid. We are having to depend on other authorities and are trying to coordinate the work so that it causes the least disruption, but this doesn’t seem to always be possible.”

He said the drains are large pipes and require a substantial amount of space.

“In the centre of Paphos we can use alternative routes, but often in villages there are no obvious alternative routes,” he said. “It’s a big nuisance for drivers.”

There have been ongoing complaints from motorists, residents and business owners, affected by the works, about the length of time the sewerage plan is taking to complete.

“These delays will be calculated at the end of the contract period,” he said. “There are some delays, but the contractors may accelerate their work and catch up. We do expect though, to finish more or less on time.”

Meanwhile, approximately 20 compensation claims a week are sent to SABBA by disgruntled road users, hoping to be reimbursed for damage to cars and tyres caused by holes and ditches in the roads.

Malakidies said that whilst the public should contact SABBA with any complaints, any damage is the responsibility of the contractors.

“We investigate a claim, and if it is valid we request the contractor pay out. If he will not we deduct the money from his fee and then reimburse the driver,” he said. “Obviously this is provided that the claim is justified, after a private supervising company has submitted their report. Genuine claims are accompanied by a police report.”

Malakidies insisted that SABBA pays particular attention to safety at sites, adding that the works are controlled and checked by the government health inspectors but that it’s the contractor who bears ultimate responsibility.

“We put in the contract with them that they have the whole responsibility. If they refuse to pay any claim we cover it, and then take the money out from their fees.”

The district engineer admitted that if there were more staff available, such as SABBA’s own inspectors, as opposed to the services of an independent firm based in Nicosia that they currently use, they would be able to do a better job.

Katsanouris was less sanguine, saying that despite violations being logged and fines being issued, many of the sites in Paphos remain negligent in some way.

“We are not the worst country in Europe for this, but we have a long way to go,” he said. “It will take some time to change attitudes toward health and safety, but we have seen some progress in this area in the last five years.”

If you have a complaint or require further information call SABBA.’ 26818202.