Pafos Live 13 November 2024
AKTOR has terminated the same contract with the Department of Public Works for the Paphos-Polis Chrysochous road project, which was interrupted by the Ministry of Transport, and is appealing to the Cypriot courts with the amount to be required for compensation exceeding €35 million, the CEO of AKTOR Group (formerly Intrakat) told an online press conference. Alexandros Exarchou.
"We are obliged to go to the courts of Cyprus and exhaust our rights both in Cyprus and in Europe," he said, adding that the compensation to be demanded exceeded €35 million.
Mr. Exarchou gave his own version of what led to an impasse in the Paphos-Polis road construction project, convening the conference after the termination of the contract between the Department of Public Works and the Group for the construction of the Paphos-Polis Chrysochous road.
The huge volume of excavation materials, the unsuitability of the excavation materials and the inability to find a place to deposit them, the issue of mines for the production of excavation products, the non-completion of expropriations and the non-timely response of the services of the Department of Public Works, are the main reasons why the implementation of the Pafos-Polis Chrysochous road could not proceed.
Mr. Exarchou said that he met 4 times with the Minister of Transport (on 13.03.2024, 14.05.2024, 31.07.2024 and 18.09.2024) and told him that the project has reached a point where it is impossible to absorb more excavated products and that the specification of suitable and inappropriate materials is technically incorrect.
He added that he was seeking a solution with the Minister on the issue of quarries, the issue of appropriate materials and the issue of expropriations. Mr. Exarchou said that he suggested solutions to the Minister and was looking for a sustainable implementation of the project, saying that he did not exercise the right to terminate the contract from April 2023.
"The side of the Republic of Cyprus chose – while we were waiting for it to respond to our last request for a meeting – to terminate the contract unfairly and with a behaviour that we consider extremely hostile," he said.
The reasons that make it impossible to carry out the work
Speaking about the volume of materials, Mr. Exarchou said that the total quantity of excavations for the earthworks, according to the approved study, amounted to 3.8 million cubic meters, the total quantity of embankments amounted to 2.3 million cubic meters, while the excavation quantities executed until September 2024 amounted to 1.3 million cubic meters. He also said that the percentage of suitable materials resulting from trench excavations is 16%.
He stated that given that only 16% of the excavated products are considered suitable, it follows that from the excavations of the trenches it is estimated that the amount of excavations that will be required for the construction of all embankments reaches the "indescribable number" of 15 million cubic meters, noting that "in order for the project to be constructed, Mount Troodos will have to change its position".
He pointed out that this is due to a specification of the Contract, which, as Mr. Exarchou himself claimed, "is obvious and certain by any experienced engineer, that it constitutes a typographical error, because in order for materials to be considered suitable, they must meet two cumulative properties, while it would be sufficient to meet one of the two conditions".
He expressed the view that the continuation of works under these conditions is prohibited by Cypriot law, due to the strong environmental differentiation from the relevant permits.
Elsewhere in his statements, he said that the company asked for a 3-year extension and not 5 "as falsely propagated", claiming that "under the conditions that exist at the moment this project will never be executed".
He also stated that there are four reasons for the termination of the contract by the Public Works of the Ministry of Transport, as recorded in a letter, and concern the submission of studies by the company, non-submission of timetables, withdrawal of the contract and abandonment of the project and incompetence/insufficiency of the company's designers.
He said that the machinery and personnel are there and the excavations stopped when they reached 1.3 million cubic meters and it was explained to the Minister that further excavations are not in accordance with the environmental study that had been done.
Mr. Exarchou said that studies have been submitted, timetables have been submitted for which there has been no response, while he said that opinions on the ability of researchers will be sought from bodies to judge their professional competence. He also said that this is the first time that someone claims that the company in question cannot implement a project, listing a series of projects that he said the company carried out.
Asked by a journalist to comment on the position that the Government stated that it had proceeded with the expropriations and that there were suitable places for deposits, he claimed that "the Government is lying".
