Cyprus Mail 5 December 2024 - by Elias Hazou
Works at the integrated waste management facilities at Pentakomo and Koshi, allowing them to operate at full capacity, will get underway in the first quarter of 2028, the agriculture minister pledged on Wednesday.
Maria Panayiotou was taking questions from MPs on the status of the two waste treatment facilities.
The contract for the €40 million project in Pentakomo was terminated in December 2023. The state – specifically the Water Development Department – then took over operations to ensure basic functionality until a new tender is issued.
Panayiotou said works at the Pentakomo and Koshi plants would start in the first quarter of 2028, with 2029 set as the timetable for final delivery.
These are long timeframes, she conceded, but “realistic” nonetheless.
The minister sought to reassure MPs that the schedule would be adhered to. Some of the works have already gone out to tender.
The Pentakomo facility in particular needs upgrades as well as repairs to equipment.
Panayiotou cited the poor condition of the facility when it was taken over by the Water Development Department (WDD).
It took about 90 separate actions, costing €1.2 million, just to get the plant back to running.
Parliamentarians had doubts as to whether the WDD does in fact have the technical savvy to run the facility.
Disy MP Prodromos Alambritis expressed concern that these temporary arrangements might end up becoming permanent.
He noted that the Koshi facility is “at breaking point”.
Greens MP Charalambos Theopemptou cautioned that any related tenders awarded in the future should not go to companies with a tainted track record – such as legal troubles.
The Koshi plant was built to serve the Larnaca and Famagusta regions.
As for Pentakomo, it began operating in 2017. It was intended to end the burying of municipal waste from the Limassol district. But by 2023, when the state stepped in, the majority of the processed waste was ending up in landfills anyway as there were no takers for the product (the secondary fuel) produced there.
In order to conform to EU directives and regulations, Cyprus began looking into waste management in 2004. The first facility – a sanitary landfill – was set up in Paphos in 2005.
