The Forestry Department initially violated the terms of an environmental assessment for roadworks in Akamas natural reserve and now is refusing to accept them, four organisations said on Monday.

Terra Cypria, Birdlife Cyprus, Cyprus Wildlife Society and Cyprus Natural Coastline issued a joint statement, reporting the department for insisting on not acknowledging the legally binding terms for the Akamas national park development.

They called on the agriculture minister to immediately make public the conclusions of the disciplinary investigation, which were submitted about a month ago concerning the violation of the terms of an environmental approval, in the framework of roadworks in Akamas which were stopped amid an outcry in 2023.

The four organisations called on the government to make sure the Forestry Department abided by the cabinet decisions regarding Akamas, including measures to improve the environmental footprint of the project.

They also said the timeframes set by the cabinet had not been observed, leading to significant delays in the reassessment of the projects and the restoration of environmental damage.

According to the organisations, the Forestry Department accepted five clauses.

These were terms 1 and 2 for addressing impacts and restoring environmental damage caused by adjacent road construction and land division projects, which were implemented by the municipality of Peyia, without undergoing a special ecological assessment, term 9 for the opening of wildlife and bird passages along the retaining walls, term 11 for the restoration of habitats and vegetation and term 17 for closing of illegal roads and unauthorised accesses along the coastline.

The department did not accept ten clauses, they said.

These were term 3 for the removal of retaining walls, as well as degradation and improvement of the longitudinal section of the Aspros-Toxeftra-Lara road, term 4 for the removal of retaining walls along the cave-like rock formations in Toxeftra, term 5 for the prohibition of the construction of new retaining walls along the Toxeftra-Avakas road, and term 6 for the abolition of over-excavations to address soil problems on the Aspros-Toxeftra-Lara road.

Also, term 7 for the reduction of excavations required in rocky subsoil for the construction of the road surface on the Aspros-Toxeftra-Lara road, term 8 for the approval of a new cross-section with reduced dimensions and kennel height on the Aspros-Toxeftra-Lara road, term 10 for the removal of the entire length of the water supply hose and the electricity cable along the Aspros-Toxeftra-Lara road in an environmentally acceptable manner, as well as their transfer outside the Akamas park, and term 12 for the removal of all retaining walls on the Toxeftra-Avakas road.

It furthermore did not accept term 13 for the implementation of a cabinet decision to remove the majority of the Avakas-Lipati road from the current construction contract and review the proposed solution, with the aim of addressing the serious geotechnical problems that have arisen, and term 15 for ensuring the functionality of works (bridges etc) on the Toxeftra-Avakas road, in relation to the movement of the critically endangered European eel (Anguilla anguilla) and the connectivity of its habitat.

The documents do not refer to the department’s position on four clauses, namely term 15 for the final construction plans, term 16 for the submission of a project implementation timeframe, term 18 for issuing protection and management decrees for protected Natura 2000 and Akamas areas, and term 19 for the issuing of special regulations for the Akamas national park.