Work progressing on wave breakers to protect Larnaca coast

Work is progressing on the construction of 16 wave breakers off Pervolia and Oroklini in a push to tackle erosion that is affecting the entire coastline from Zygi to Pyla, the Cyprus News Agency reported on Tuesday.

Pervolia community leader Costas Tingis said construction of nine wave breakers in Pervolia bay, west of cape Petounta and east of cape Kiti, had started in November. Budgeted at €6.5m, the project is due to be completed in mid-2024.

“The work is progressing smoothly and the construction of the nine wave breakers is expected to function as a comprehensive anti-erosion shield in this specific area of Larnaca district,” he added.

The wave breakers will be parallel to the coast at a distance of 230 to 280 metres and a depth of 3.5 metres from average sea level. Each wave breaker will be about 150 metres long with a distance between them of some 60 metres.

The nine complete the 15 proposed by a study carried out by Athens Polytechnic in 2002. The first six were completed in 2018. “The study is being implemented 18 years on, an interval during which erosion of the coast has taken on dramatic dimensions, losing tens of metres of beach,” he said.

He thanked the transport minister and all those who contributed towards achieving the target of building nine wave breakers at Pervolia.

For his part, Oroklini community leader Neophytou Fakontis said that work on seven parallel wave breakers un Oroklini bay had started in September last year. At some 200 metres from land, the breakers will protect 1.2 km of coastline.

The project, in the coastal area opposite Oroklini police station, involves the construction of seven breakers and the demolition of the current breaker behind Lebay Beach, as well as the elevation of the three existing breakers in the east so as to be even higher above the average sea level. At a distance of 100 to 200 metres from the coast, they will be at a depth of 3.7 metres from the sea level, he added.

The project will cost around €4m and should be completed in early February 2023.