The road between Rizokarpaso and the Apostolos Andreas monastery on Cyprus’ northeastern tip will be closed during afternoons until further notice, the north’s ‘transport ministry’ announced on Thursday.

The road will remain closed every day between 2pm and 1am from May 12, with the ‘ministry’ saying motorists are “advised to avoid using the road during these hours”.

Work to widen the road began at the end of last month, with Turkey’s general directorate of highways (KGM)’s Cyprus office coordinator Aykut Mutlu saying that the aim is for the renovations to be completed within four months.

At the time, the north’s ‘transport minister’ Erhan Arikli said the renovations will relieve the north of a “shame”.

“It really was a shame, because the thousands of tourists who come up here every month were evaluating our country by looking at this road,” he said.

Earlier in the year, Arikli and Turkish Cypriot Yialousa and Rizokarpaso mayor Hamit Bakirci had been at loggerheads over plans to renovate the road, with Bakirci expressing his upset after workmen and their vehicles were diverted to work on the road linking the Famagusta district villages of Kalopsida and Acheritou in January.

He even organised a protest at the time, with a couple of hundred people having blocked the existing road, holding signs reading “the people are here, where is the road?” and “the road you have gone down is not a road”.

Arikli had said that decision had been made based on weather conditions.