Filenews 28 June 2022 - by Michalis Hadjivassilis
With four new aircraft, the Republic of Cyprus is strengthened in the fight against the fires, as a result of which the firefighting force from the air will catch the target, since it will rise to 13 aerial means.
Today, the two Spanish Air Tractor leased by the Government are arriving from Latin America and as the director of the Department of Forests, Charalambos Alexandrou, told "F", by next Friday they will be operationally ready to be thrown into the fight against the fires. At the same time, two Russian Kamov firefighting helicopters are expected to arrive in Cyprus within a week.
For the lease of the two helicopters, an open tender had been announced, several companies submitted bids and two reached the final stage. As Mr. Alexandrou pointed out, finally after an evaluation a Spanish company representing the two Kamovs was selected. The proposal of the evaluation committee was sent to the competent committee for award, since the offer is the cheapest.
As the Minister of Agriculture, Costas Kadis, said yesterday, in this way it has been possible to overcome the obstacle of EU sanctions on Russia since the tendering company is of Spanish interests. It is noted that the Russian company owner of Kamov with which an agreement was signed to lease them in recent years, has not submitted a bid this year.
It is noted that if the offer for the two Kamovs is awarded, then the agreement includes the maintenance of the aircraft, it will be of two years duration with the possibility of renewal if the Republic of Cyprus so wishes, for another two years.
With the four new aircraft to come, the firefighting force from the air will reach 13 as was the original target, so that Cyprus will be self-sufficient to cope with difficult situations. Specifically, the Air Tractors will rise to six, the two Kamovs will be added, plus two helicopters of the Police, one of the National Guard and two helicopters of the British Bases.
In the meantime, the issue of permanent cooperation with Israel on the issue of forest fire management is targeted by the Government, according to the Minister of Agriculture, which is why it will be raised for discussion in Israel at a meeting in early July with the Israeli Minister of environment.
