The impact of maintenance works that have closed the road linking the Baths of Aphrodite and the Fontana Amorosa beach in the Akamas national park was not properly assessed, environmentalists said on Thursday.
The road was closed on Monday and will remain so until October 25. According to the forestry department, the works are being carried out to address dangerous sections of the road, which have led to frequent accidents, some of them fatal.
The forestry department emphasised that this project is separate from the larger and more controversial roadworks in the Akamas region. It added that specific conditions had been set to ensure the natural beauty of the area remains undisturbed and that the road cannot be widened in any way.
However, the eco group Friends of the Akamas said in a statement on Thursday the environmental assessment that was used to justify the works had sidestepped binding requirements for a full impact study by labelling the changes “maintenance” to push them through more quickly.
The report deemed the road had “access problems” and its surface was being eroded by rainwater.
“To our great surprise, we watched helplessly on the television channels as work crews broke rocks using heavy machinery under the supervision of the forestry department,” the statement said.
The group said that in July this year, the situation on the specific road was discussed within the framework of the ad-hoc committee of special ecological assessment under the chairmanship of the department of the environment. It was determined that work was needed along around 500 metres. The report referred to “preliminary normalization works”.
But beyond that, Friends of the Akamas said the stretch of road was located within the Akamas Peninsula Special Conservation Zone as well as within the Akamas Peninsula Special Protection Zone, an Ecosystem Overview and Assessment (EOA) should have been done in accordance with national and European legislation.
“In our view, unfortunately, a full EOA has not been prepared, perhaps considering it to be maintenance work. In this meeting, the views of the members and other experts who participated were discussed. These positions were submitted in writing,” the statement said.
“Subsequently and instead of these views being evaluated collectively and documented an “evaluation report” was prepared with conclusions and decisions greenlighting the works.”
It added that carrying out an EOA was binding, and essential for certain areas and that according to national urban planning regulations, the road was governed by a conservation decree from 1989. This states, the group said, that no “transformation of the natural environment will be carried out or construction work will be carried out in the area referred to in the attached Annex which is of special interest, character and natural beauty … except and only with the consent of the minister and under such conditions as may be determined therein”.
Accidents on the road in question have typically involved quadbikes, including a recent incident in August when one plunged off a 90-metre cliff into the sea. In 2021, a 59-year-old French national died after his quadbike fell 150 metres from the same road.
Reports are now circulating that a decision has been taken to ban quadbikes from the road altogether.
The non-governmental organisation Terra Cypria has also argued that quadbikes degrade the natural habitat, disturb local wildlife and pose a significant danger when used on roads like the one linking the Baths of Aphrodite and Fontana Amorosa beach.
