The sacked contractors for phase one of the Paphos-Polis road have blocked the government’s move to press ahead with a new tender process until the company’s appeal against being cancelled has been resolved.

Greek outfit Aktor, formerly Intrakat, won a stay from the Tenders Review Authority, which accepted the contractor’s request to completely suspend the procedure until the appeal is heard.

However, Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades said the work had not been stopped.

“We will proceed with the construction of the road, that is a given”, he said, although he gave no details when this would happen.

The company is seeking over €35 million in damages through the courts after the public works department terminated the contract last November.

The department attributed the termination to “significant and unjustified delays on the part of the contractor”.

Despite repeated reminders and warnings during regular meetings and through official letters, the construction company reportedly failed to address the delays, the department said. It added that even tasks initiated in the preceding eight months had not progressed as expected, despite conditions that allowed for uninterrupted work.

Earlier this month the government had gone ahead and announced a new tender for the first phase of the road which will connect Paphos and Polis Chrysochous, which was published in the Official Gazette on August 8.

The first phase aims to connect the village of Ayia Marinouda, just outside Paphos, and the village of Stroumbi, which is located roughly halfway between the road’s two endpoints – a distance of around 15.5 kilometres.

The road is, according to the government, to be built with two lanes of traffic and one crawler lane “where required, with the prospect of construction of the other two lanes in a future phase”.

The tender’s cost has been estimated at €90.2 million plus value added tax, while the project was expected to take 30 months to complete from the awarding of the new tender.

If a bidder was found, construction was to continue where it left off last year when the Aktor contract was cancelled.

Now the saga, which has been going on for decades, is back in limbo after the Tenders Review Authority accepted Aktor’s request.

It agreed on Friday to freeze without restriction the tender for the completion of the design and construction.

Aktor requested the cancellation or amendment of the terms of the new notice, claiming that they violated “the principles of transparency, equal treatment and competition”.

According to the authority’s instructions, the department of public works must submit a “report of facts” by August 28, Aktor by September 15, and the tenders board by October 3. A hearing will then be scheduled.