A new eco-friendly lifeguard tower is being built in Oroklini, the community’s leader Neophytos Fakontis said on Tuesday.
The tower will have sanitation facilities, electricity from renewable energy sources, water, and lockers for the lifeguards, he said.
Lifeguards will have access “to all amenities…to perform their duties as best as possible,” Fakontis said.
The tower will be in the pedestrian section next to the Oroklini tourist kiosk.
It will cost more than €25,000 and “will be a jewel for all of Cyprus,” Fakontis added.
“Several lifeguard towers are made of wood, aluminium, metal and even of cheap material, which is not the best for the promotion of Cyprus,” Fakontis said.
Oroklini’s Giannades beach is one of the five beaches to be awarded with a blue flag in Larnaca this year.
A beach is awarded a blue flag when meeting the strict environmental, educational, safety, and accessibility criteria according to the blue flag programme.
At Giannades, wheelchairs are available for disabled persons allowing them to be escorted by lifeguards into the sea. There is also disabled parking and the light-coloured sunbeds are free for the disabled and their companions.
“Our goal is to…create a green beach,” Fakontis said. There are 200 palm trees along the beachside, of which 125 were planted in the past two years.
A machine cleans the beach and sand daily, community council workers clear and collect garbage, and a group trims the palm trees at the end of June, Fakontis said.
After installing a pavement, fitness equipment and a children’s park, visitors have increased, he added.
Fakontis hopes the tourism ministry will build similar towers on all blue flag beaches.
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