Filenews 1 February 2026 - by Dora Christodoulou
The continued delay in making decisions on the completion of the new Paphos Airport-Tourist Area road does not seem to be unrelated to behind-the-scenes reactions of local bodies with financial motives. Exclusive information from Filenews states that officials of community authorities and private companies in the area are putting up behind-the-scenes obstacles and pressuring decision-making centers in order not to complete the new road.
These factors believe that with the completion of the new road, there will be a significant reduction in traffic through communities and businesses on the existing road, which will understandably have an impact on economic activity in these areas. As Filenews is in a position to know, especially lately, given the start of the election campaign for the May parliamentary elections, community officials who believe that their communities will be degraded by the creation of the new road to the airport, are putting pressure on MPs and parliamentary candidates not to keep Paphos' universal request for the completion of the new road in the news.
These localistic practices of community and economic actors in the wider area of Paphos airport have come to the attention of the official representatives of economic, social and business bodies of the Paphos district, since the recipients of these pressures now feel that they are in the middle of a behind-the-scenes battle with opposing interests that leaves them exposed in the eyes of public opinion.
This new component, which is now entering the frame, comes to be added to the ongoing long-standing dispute between official bodies of Paphos, such as the NLG, the Municipalities and the hoteliers, with the Department of Environment and ecological organizations that oppose the completion of the second section of the new road citing environmental issues.
The representatives of the Department of Environment have not been able to convince the Paphos authorities over the years of the correctness and validity of its long-standing position on the non-promotion of the second phase of the new road to Paphos airport, with the result that the provincial authorities have announced that only with the President of the Republic they believe that it is now appropriate to hold consultations on this issue.
