But proposal has not been officially submitted

Specific changes aiming to push a more sustainable mobility and access model for management of visitors to Akamas is under review, it emerged on Monday.

Speaking to Cyprus Mail, Klitos Papastylianou, Terra Cypria’s environmental policy officer, said the proposed changes were “positive” although the proposal has not as yet been officially submitted to the relevant ad hoc committee.

The changes come after NGOs continued to sound the alarm over the past two months regarding ongoing missteps in management of roadworks in the area, including the absence of attribution of any responsibilities for violations which have occurred.

BirdLife Cyprus and Terra Cypria have demanded transparency over the scandal and pressed for a new proposal to be shuttled back to ministers in June.

In the wake of these continued efforts by environmentalists, the revised plan of the next phase of the road improvement and visitor hub works, is due to be submitted to the expert ad-hoc committee for review within the next few days, according to Philenews.

In a nutshell, the new proposals suggest cutting out construction of five of eleven originally suggested roads and making improvements to those remaining, which form about 60 per cent (34.4km) of the 58.7km network, so as to facilitate access by fire engines if needed.

The 14 originally proposed hubs are suggested to be cut down to ten with accompanying refreshments stands also reduced from seven to five.

The focus is on reducing the number of parking lots situated within the park and bottle-necking departure points to the surrounding villages.

Included in the proposals are a push towards shuttle bus use which would induce visitors to start their forays from a specially designated parking lot in each village.

The revised proposal makes no mention of hunting rights or continued permission for use of quad bikes in the park.

Entrances to the park will not be gated but are to be information points offering directions and other facilities, according to sources.

“The roads to be improved will not be asphalted but gravelled, there will be no concrete or tar, except in some rare and strictly limited instances where it is deemed necessary for technical reasons,” Papastylianou clarified.

As for the quadbikes, the as-yet unresolved issue is one which must be urgently discussed, he said. In addition to their obvious detrimental effects on habitats, such as degradation of verge vegetation and disturbance of fauna, they are incompatible both with ecological tourism, such as hiking, as well as with the very idea of road improvement.

“The rationale presented for improving the roads was to prevent ongoing damage and limit the need for continual intervention by work crews to maintain them. If we continue to allow quad bikes, which will kick up the gravelled roads, we will need works every three years instead of every ten,” Papastylianou pointed out.

The suggested village entry points for exploring seven distinct park localities are from Peyia, Kathikas, Pano and Kato Arodes, Lipati, Droushia, Neo Chorio, Polis and Latchi.