Nicosia, Cyprus. Akamas municipality defended the continuation of improvement works on the Baths of Aphrodite-Fontana Amorosa Road, rejecting calls to cancel the project. The response came a day after Environment Commissioner Antonia Theodosiou called for the immediate cancellation of the roadworks’ environmental approval.
Municipality cites safety concerns
The municipality said the road has been linked to three fatal accidents and dozens of injuries, adding that its condition is evident to visitors. It said the safety of citizens, visitors and rescue forces should not be treated as a secondary issue and argued that not intervening would leave a known hazard in place.
Role in emergency response and environmental management
According to the municipality, the road supports not only tourism access but also fire protection, emergency response and the management of a sensitive ecological zone. It rejected proposals to close the road, saying access restrictions would not remove risk because authorised users, including emergency services and workers, would still use the road and face unsafe conditions without infrastructure improvements.
Position on environmental protection
The municipality said environmental protection and safety are not opposing objectives and stated it supports respect for nature and the environment alongside institutional environmental procedures. It added that biodiversity protection is non-negotiable but said known risks should still be addressed, concluding that solutions must ensure both safety and ecological protection while rejecting what it described as “logics of inertia”.
Environment Commissioner calls for cancellation
Theodosiou called for the immediate cancellation of environmental approval for the roadworks in a letter to the agriculture ministry and the presidential palace, saying the project should not proceed under current conditions due to legal and ecological concerns. She said the works exceed limits set in earlier ecological assessments and warned that coastal protection requirements had not been adequately examined.
What should be prioritised when safety measures and ecological concerns are both raised in a single infrastructure project?
