Filenews 28 October 2025 - by Vassos Vassiliou
A year after the termination of the contract concerning the construction of the Paphos – Polis Chrysochous road, not only was not a single meter of road built, but the study itself, which concerns the implementation of the project, is at a standstill. Specifically, and despite the fact that the Department of Public Works announced the tender and the process was proceeding, it stalled when the company Aktor, which was executing the original contract and did not meet its obligations (as a result of which the state terminated it), appealed to the Revision Authority, securing a decision (issuance of interim measures) prohibiting the award of the tender.
Aktor denounced the terms of the re-announcement of the tender published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Cyprus on 08/08/2025, disagreeing with their provisions. Alternatively, with its appeal, it requested the "modification or completion of the terms of the tender in order to ensure the fundamental principles of Administrative Law such as transparency, equal treatment and healthy competition".
The initial contract was terminated on November 11, 2024 and the Department of Public Works set the deadline for the submission of tenders as 07/11/2025, i.e. one year after the termination of the contract with Aktor.
Aktor had succeeded in suspending the decision of the Department of Public Works to sign a contract concerning the "Completion of the Design and Construction of the Paphos – Polis Chrysochous Motorway Section 1 – Phase (A)". The Department of Public Works had filed an objection which, however, was rejected.
The last day for submission of questions by the economic operators – contractors in the context of the new tender process was set for 24/10/2025 and 31/10/2025 as the last day for the Contracting Authority's answers (Department of Public Works).
It is noted that the possibility of submitting clarifying questions by interested economic operators and, at the same time, the possibility for the contracting authority to respond to them, is provided for in the terms of the tender.
Following the registration of the written submissions of the lawyers of the two sides, the appeal was set for a hearing on 03/11/2025. However, the Department of Public Works applied to the Revision Authority, securing approval in order to differentiate the date of submission of tenders from November 7, 2025, to February 6, 2026, on the grounds that if the deadline expired, they would have to be re-announced, which would lead to further delays.
More specifically, Public Works in a letter to the Revisionary Authority, dated 20/10/2025, requested the lifting of the temporary measures for the purpose of extending the deadlines for:
a) Submission of questions by economic operators by 23/01/2026.
b) For the Contracting Authority's responses by 30/01/2026.
c) For the submission of tenders until 06/02/2026.
This means that from November 2024, when the contract was terminated, the whole process is postponed to February 6, 2026, although the goal was to complete it as soon as possible, so that the bid can be awarded and the construction work can begin.
When last August the company Aktor had requested the issuance of interim measures in order to prevent the signing of a contract between the Department of Public Works and another contractor, the lawyer of the Department had put forward the "negative consequences that will arise from the issuance of the interim measures and which, in her opinion, will be more than their benefits, in relation to the public interest that leans in favor of the contracting authority".
He had also clarified that "he does not object to the issuance of the interim measures requested, provided that the process of announcing the tender is not prevented but continues". At the same time, the Department of Public Works argued that the applicants have not proven that they have a legal interest in registering the appeal and in particular have not proven that their interests may be harmed by the possibility of not taking interim measures from the stage of the notice.
The government side hopes that the Revisionary Authority will decide on the pending appeal around the end of November or beginning of December, so in this case, the delay will be as short as possible under the circumstances.
