Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades on Tuesday said he expects the tenders review authority to reach a decision in early October regarding Greek company Aktor’s appeal against the government’s cancellation of the contract it had signed to for the construction of a new road between Paphos and Polis Chrysochous.

“We expect that the tenders review authority will make a decision in early October so that we can proceed with the process. We will do what is necessary by implementing cabinet decisions and proceedings with a new tendering process for the project,” he told CyBC radio.

However, he said, “I expect that this particular company will continue to raise difficulties”.

He added that the public works department has filed a claim for compensation from Aktor over the additional costs involved in announcing a new tender and for the payment of guarantees the company had agreed to pay should the project not be executed “in the appropriate period”.

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“We will take the company to court and claim all our rights, and the execution of the project will proceed,” he said.

“It is a priority for the government to get the project done. If the company continues to choose this path, we will constantly defend the law of the country.”

Aktor had on Monday won a stay from the tenders review authority, which had accepted the company’s request to suspend a new tender process for the road until its appeal against the cancellation of the initial contract.

The company, which was formerly known as Intrakat, is seeking €35 million in damages for the termination of the contract, which the government had torn up citing “significant and unjustified delays on the part of the contractor”.

The government had said at the time that despite repeated reminders and warnings during regular meetings and through official letters, Intrakat, now Aktor, had failed to address delays in the road’s construction.

It added that even tasks initiated in the final eight months prior to the contract’s termination had not progressed as expected, despite conditions that allowed for uninterrupted work.

Monday’s decision comes weeks after the government had announced a new tender for the first phase of the road, which will 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 tender’s cost has been estimated at €90.2 million plus value added tax, while the project is expected to take 30 months to complete.