Filenews 9 August 2021
On the occasion of the new fatal accident in Akamas with a buggy vehicle, a debate has resumed on the associated state of the road network on the Akamas peninsula.
The Citizens' Ecological Cooperation Movement, in its announcement yesterday, points out that the danger on this road from the Baths of Aphrodite to Fontana Amorosa is known to all. There used to be a bar at the site and only ranchers, the Department of Forestry and visitors who walked undisturbed had access, he says.
"But for years there have been hordes of four-wheeled motorcycles and buggies circulating undisturbed," the ecologists complain. "We recall that there has already been a great deal of widening on the road, which is characterised by sloppiness and which we have denounced from the outset. Some, without any study, sent the bulldozers to Akamas and under the pretext of widening the unregistered rural road, left behind a huge environmental disaster. The erosion of much of the road, where the so-called widening took place, shows the size of the sloppiness. Unfortunately a new fatal accident on this road was just a matter of time. We stress that for years Akamas has literally been destroyed by rubbish and buggies."
Environmentalists speak of major economic interests which in their own way impose their sovereignty over the region. On the altar of any so-called development we cannot accept any more ecological crimes, especially when it comes to Akamas, the communication concludes.
After Sunday's tragedy, an angry reaction was also recorded by the community leader of Neo Chorio, Andreas Christodoulou Mahimos, who stressed that it was necessary for the Intervention of the Attorney General of the Republic to blame state departments and officials who allowed the re-use of this road, without any substantial improvement in security.
The local authorities, Mr. Mahimos noted, had strongly called for the execution of works at the site and the installation of a safety net. Which was not the case, he said, but still some have allowed the dangerous road to be reopened for use by wheeled vehicles.
