The Ecologists has raised concerns over plans to relocate the central prisons to Ayios Sozomenos, warning that the proposed site could affect protected land within the Natura 2000 network.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the party called on the government not to proceed with planning before consulting local authorities and residents in the wider area.

It said Ayios Sozomenos held particular archaeological and environmental importance and argued that its abandonment by its Turkish Cypriot residents could not mean it be treated as “no man’s land” or as a location for large-scale projects without proper planning and environmental assessment.

The party called for a full assessment, saying all factors should be considered before a decision on the prison project proceeds.

The intervention follows the government’s decision last week to abandon Mathiatis as the proposed location for the new prison and move the project to Ayios Sozomenos.

Justice Minister Costas Fitiris said the change was based on cost and time considerations, with Ayios Sozomenos already having access to roads, water, electricity and sewage infrastructure.

The proposed facility is expected to cost €300 million and accommodate 1,500 inmates, with construction due to begin next year and completion within five years.

The new proposition has already prompted condemnation from the municipalities of South Nicosia-Idalion and Latsia-Yeri, whose boundaries are adjacent to Ayios Sozomenos.

They called for the site decision to be reversed, saying the area already contains extensive industrial and agricultural activity, including quarries, pig farms and livestock waste treatment facilities.

The municipalities also pointed to an EAC overhead power line and said the area was earmarked for livestock farming under the government’s national plan to rebuild the sector.

Akel has likewise called for studies and consultation with local authorities before the project proceeds, arguing that the government had changed the proposed location without sufficient consultation.

Ayios Sozomenos, near the Green Line, was abandoned following intercommunal violence. The former village contains a Byzantine cave chapel, the unfinished Latin church of Saint Mamas and mud brick remains of homes left by its former Turkish Cypriot residents.