Solutions sought for Larnaca’s Natura 2000 area

Projects that will allow residents to travel safely near the waste-treatment plant on the Larnaca-Meneou road in an environmentally sensitive area, were discussed on Thursday by Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades and Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou, with Larnaca mayor and other officials.

“We are in a very environmentally sensitive area, we have this problem with road erosion,” Vafeades said an on-site inspection of the of the area.

He said the meeting was to ascertain the damage that the road network has suffered, the danger that drivers face and to come up with ways to restore the road network to its original state, without putting an environmental burden on the area.

The efforts, he added, are to work within the framework set by the agriculture minister and environment department.

Asked whether there are any initial plans for this project, the minister replied that “there are some studies, there will continue to be consultation between the environment department and the public works department to come up with the best possible solution”.

Meanwhile, Panayiotu said: “Today we are in a very environmentally sensitive area, which is part of the Natura 2000 network – the Larnaca salt flats area and here is a unique endemic species, which we want to protect, and we must protect it.”