Akamas communities call for fund to compensate them

A six-point proposal to deal with the issues faced by Akamas communities – which includes calls for a green fund to compensate landowners – was issued by Neo Chorio’s community council on Saturday.

The central theme is that the Akamas communities feel they have lost out after large tracts of land were designated protected areas in 1989 and are now calling on the government for support.

“We hope that our proposals will be followed through so that the Akamas communities can finally get off life support after 35 years, to allow sustainable development,” they said.

The proposals were sent to President Nikos Christodoulides after his interior and agriculture ministers met the community leaders of Neo Chorio and Inia on Friday.

Their proposals seek to get a step ahead of the process after the government postponed the implementation of the Akamas local development plan until September 1.

The communities are now pressing the government, calling for works to begin immediately on establishing an updated road network so that landowners have the necessary infrastructure to utilise and develop their plots.

They pressed the need to “create infrastructure that provides employment opportunities and prospects for our residents – especially our youth so they can remain in the communities”.

But a key concern is the thorny issue of compensation.

The letter stated that some landowners previously had plots which were classified as tourist zones with a building coefficient of 57.5 per cent but were later designated as protected areas under the nature conservation law – essentially meaning that nothing can be built on them.

The communities are arguing that such cases must lead to either compensation – pointing to article 23 of the constitution – or alternatively have the plots exchanged with other parcels of equal value, plus interest dating back to 1989.

The community council of Neo Chorio further called for the compensation to be facilitated through a green fund which could be financed from revenues generated through the management of the Akamas National Park, and other means.

That point, however, sparked a public row between the former interior and agriculture ministers – with the former saying it has “serious legal problems, lacks sufficient resources for compensation”, although he conceded that the model has worked in other countries.

Further points raised in the community council’s proposals are the creation of a development company comprised of the local Akamas communities and the private sector.

They also called for the creation of a new commissioner post that would specifically deal with the Akamas communities, the national park, and the wider Polis Chrysochous area – along the lines of the Troodos mountainous communities commissioner.