Interior committee to submit report on Napa beach violations

The House interior committee is to prepare a report that will include the names of persons involved in any way in the violation of the EU Habitats Directive when it came to construction projects around Cape Greco.

It was suggested at the committee that there was strong evidence of political interventions to serve certain interests that led to “the massive environmental crime” in the ‘Ammos tou Kambouri’ area in Ayia Napa.

MPs heard that the department of the environment had defended the situation saying that everything was done in line with the provisions of the legislation. The issue is to come up again on Thursday at the House audit committee.

The audit office has previously said it had carried out an investigation after the environment department revised the conditions of a special ecological report into the area, increasing the number of floors and height of buildings allowed to be built.

It added that this revision had been issued without the publication of a supplementary report, therefore in effect not giving any formal reasoning for the revised decision.

To this end, it said the environment department “must rely on documented environmental data and ensure that each report complies with the provisions of the relevant EU directives”.

“If a supplementary report cannot be substantiated from a specifically environmental point of view with new data, the environment department must withdraw it,” it added.

It made reference to the plight of the greater sand plover, which faces the “loss and destruction of its habitat” should too much construction take place in the area.