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The distorted perception of the Ministry of Interior about transparency is destroying Akamas, says the Movement of Ecological Cooperation of Citizens.
According to a statement, the Ministry of Interior, once again, chooses to follow the path of obfuscation, informing us, in a statement, that it does not intend to make the Akama Local Plan public, despite persistent pleas from committees and members of the House of Representatives. As he points out, such an action may call into question the legitimacy of the drafting process, while not failing to describe as irresponsible the MPs and MPs who persistently requested it.
In a democratic, favoured state, not only the members of the House of Representatives, but also every individual citizen has the right to know and participate in decision-making regarding urban planning, especially when it concerns a vital part of Cyprus' biodiversity, such as the Akamas peninsula.
Noting the Government's discomfort in exercising control, the Movement of Ecologists - Citizens' Co-operation is sounding the alarm, emphatically stressing that the procedures followed must be transparent.
When the Game and Wildlife Service, while expressing, in a letter, its strong concern to the Environmental Authority, and its opposition to most of the provisions of the revised Akamas Local Plan, changes its position in just a few 24 hours, then questions are reasonably raised.
In her statements, the Movement's MP, Alexandra Attalidou, underlines that "The Akamas peninsula is unique and hosts 50% of the biodiversity in Cyprus. If the Minister of Interior believes that urban planning should be done in secret and away from the citizens, we probably have a different view of what democracy means."
Attalidou noted that "if we do not want the nascent Local Plan to be the gravestone of this heritage, we must act immediately to prevent plans that will mathematically lead to the destruction of Akamas. That is why I have requested that the text of the proposed Local Plan, the Game and Wildlife Service's administrative file on the Akamas Local Plan be submitted to the House of Representatives so that we can determine why it differed from its original position, as well as the Department of Environment's administrative file on the Environmental Impact Assessment. In addition, I requested the immediate intervention of the Audit Office, in order to proceed with the implementation of the Compliance Management Audit of the Akamas Local Plan under preparation, based on international auditing standards, for environmental, financial and institutional reasons."
"At a time when the greatest threat to human existence itself is climate change," Ms. Attalidou added, "some people prefer to cement the lungs of our land, for the benefit of the few, instead of supporting local communities with long-term and sustainable solutions. We should not forget that there are three pending European Commission infringement proceedings against the Republic of Cyprus. Therefore, the handling of Akamas is not only an ecological issue, but an economic and institutional one at the same time."
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