Filenews 7 April 2023 - by Angelos Nicolaou
Another megaton scandal, causing environmental damage, granting golden passports, providing urban planning incentives in violation of the environmental acquis, tolerating arbitrary and illegal interventions, has been taking place since 2012 until today at the location of Ammos tou Kambouris. However, a full decade later, there is still inaction by the provincial administration and the local authority to proceed with the restoration of the environmental damage caused.
The event provokes the common sense of justice and exposes Cyprus to the European Commission, as it concerns illegal and arbitrary interventions within a Natura 2000 site. Through documents and correspondence covering a whole decade, it appears that the Department of Environment and the Game and Fauna Service have since warned and continued to denounce until today the arbitrary interventions, asking for restoration of the damage to the natural environment of the area. At the same time, however, other agencies and local authorities are turning a blind eye to the illegality, which appears to involve the church and local land developers.
In the parliamentary committee of the Interior, where the discussion of the issue began yesterday and will continue on 11/5/2023, the competent services of the Ministry of Interior were not able to provide answers to the questions raised and the revelations snowballed. Essentially, this is a blatant violation of environmental, urban planning and other legislation, for which Cyprus is called to account to the European Commission.
Speaking with data and presenting photographic material from the Ammos area of Kambouris, the MP of the Green Movement – Citizens' Cooperation, Alexandra Attalidou, stressed that an environmental crime is taking place with the involvement of the state and the church, as well as people who secured golden passports , while they are wanted internationally and persecuted in their countries of origin. Attalidou put a number of questions to the Ministry of Interior, the Department of Town Planning and Housing, the District Administration and the Municipality of Ayia Napa. Addressing the Mayor of Ayia Napa, she asked whether the Church was in possession of land in the area at the time of the illegal and arbitrary interventions. He also asked if legal action had been taken against the offenders and whether certain villas were sold to Malaysian Jo Taek Low for a golden passport.
She referred to threats against citizens who reacted and against public officials who resisted, while expressing surprise that the Public Prosecutor's Office has never been able to prove before the Court the guilt of those who broke the law, destroying an environmentally sensitive area, despite repeated complaints from citizens.
According to the facts, between 2012 - 2014, arbitrary and illegal interventions were carried out within the Beach Protection Zone and Urban Protection Zone Da1, at the location of Ammos tou Kambouris, which among others include the rocking of the coastline, the alteration of the rocky beach, the deforestation of natural vegetation and the creation of an artificial cove.
The Archbishop, on September 1, 2015, sent a letter to the then Minister of Interior, M. Socrates Hasikos, and expressed his wish that Malaysian Jho Taek Low be naturalized as a Cypriot. The then Archbishop returned with a new letter on September 10, 2015 and states that the Malaysian has already invested €5 million. for house purchase. The then Minister of Interior forwarded the naturalization application to the Council of Ministers on September 11, 2015, which was approved.
In a letter to Archbishop Chrysostomos II dated September 30, 2015, the then mayor of Ayia Napa, Yiannis Karousos, informed His Beatitude about the restoration of the interventions in the coastal area of Ammos tou Kambouris. In Mr. Karousos' letter to Chrysostomos II, the then mayor of Ayia Napa invokes the excellent view and peculiarity of the area, noting that the local authority wants to improve its aesthetics to attract tourists and investors. After a series of meetings that took place between 2015 and 2019, by letter dated 10/9/2019, the Municipality of Ayia Napa, finally submitted an application for the restoration of the arbitrary and illegal interventions on the coastal front, at the location of Ammos tou Kambouris.
On 27/12/2019, the Department of Environment issued a reasoned finding for the restoration of the interventions. Work that has not been implemented to date.
Surveillance camera, platform for speedboats and jet skis
On Thursday 30/3/2023, the Department of Environment in a letter to the District Officer of Famagusta and the Mayor of Ayia Napa refers to a series of illegal interventions detected during a recent visit to the area.
These concern:
• Cutting of acacia trees in the area of the organized beach of Makronissos.
• Construction works with permanent soil sealing and construction of a building with sanitary facilities near the chapel of Agia Thekla at a distance of about 90m. from the coastline and 5m. from the Natura 2000 network area Special Protection Area "Agia Thekla – Liopetri Area".
• Installation of floating docks and parking of speedboats as well as installation of photovoltaic panel for surveillance camera operation at Ammos tou Kambouris.
Lawyer Konstantis Kantounas, in his intervention at the Interior Committee, referred to the separation of state land, the creation of a new plot and its disposal to the Church, in violation of the law. He complained that the separation of state coastal land was made by decision of the Council of Ministers dated 10/10/2013, while on the same day, the Council of Ministers approved the exchange of the new plot with property of the Archdiocese in Nicosia, which had been expropriated 2.5 whole years earlier.
The Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that following the detection of violations in 2015, the Planning Authority served an enforcement notice (22/7/2015) on two companies. They then proceeded to hierarchical appeals, which were examined and rejected in 2018 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They proceeded with appeals to the Supreme Court, which are pending to this day.
The director of the Department of Town Planning said that in consultation with the Department of Environment, four applications were submitted for large hotel units in Cape Greco governed by the Ayia Napa policy statement, which was revised in 2017.
The Mayor of Ayia Napa said that after taking over the mayoralty he made the restoration of the area a priority. He added that bids are expected to be signed within the next week with a successful bidder.
The spokeswoman of the Department of Environment said that since the first complaint received about illegal and arbitrary interventions, actions have been taken to repair the environmental damage. Initially, he said, the Ayia Napa Municipality had different plans for an organized beach for bathers. After issuing an opinion for rehabilitation, he noted, the Commission was informed about this.
The Federation of Environmental Organisations of Cyprus forwarded a detailed position note to the parliamentary committee on Internal Affairs, which sets out the full history of the case and confirmed that, following a recent on-site visit to the beach in question, there is not even fencing, but instead a photovoltaic panel with surveillance camera and a platform with jet ski has been installed.
The Game and Fauna Service reported that many letters were sent and many sessions were held to restore the area in the right way.
The Famagusta District Officer said that the work was mainly done in the evening and relevant complaints were submitted to the Police.
INTERVENTION
Fortunately, Brussels is watching
Since 2015, when environmental crime took place, until today, and after efforts were made to legalize illegalities to no avail, in 2023 procedures are still underway to repair environmental damage. Taking into account that in Cyprus there is little interest from local bodies in environmental justice, we expected everyone to be more careful since the Commission was involved, which has sent a letter of formal notice to the Cypriot authorities. Instead, signs remain of the shoreline being rocked to create an artificial cove and the tolerance shown by the Ayia Napa Municipality has emboldened some who even placed a jet ski platform in the area and CCTV to monitor their illegal activities.
