Work begins to widen road from Rizokarpaso to Apostolos Andreas

Work to widen and resurface the road between Rizokarpaso and the Apostolos Andreas monastery on Cyprus’ northeastern tip began on Thursday, with the road set to be widened by as much as eight metres in places.

The project is being coordinated by Turkey’s general directorate of highways (KGM), with its Cyprus office coordinator Aykut Mutlu explaining that renovations will begin at the monastery end of the road and be completed in two-kilometre segments.

He said the aim is for the renovations to be completed in four months.

Turkish Cypriot Yialousa and Rizokarpaso mayor Hamit Bakirci said at the official commencement of works that “I am very happy today”, and thanked the KGM.

He also called for renovations on the road linking Rizokarpaso and the nearby village of Gallinoporni.

Meanwhile, the north’s ‘transport minister’ Erhan Arikli said the renovations will relieve the north of a “shame”.

“It really was a shame, because the thousands of tourists who come up here every month were evaluating our country by looking at this road,” he said.

Earlier in the year, Bakirci and Arikli had been at loggerheads over plans to renovate the road, with Bakirci expressing his upset after workmen and their vehicles were diverted to work on the road linking the Famagusta district villages of Kalopsida and Acheritou in January.

He even organised a protest at the time, with a couple of hundred people having blocked the existing road, holding signs reading “the people are here, where is the road?” and “the road you have gone down is not a road”.

Arikli had said that decision had been made based on weather conditions.

“As we have previously announced, the road from Rizokarpaso to the monastery was included in our ministry’s programme, and according to that programme, the work would start at the end of this month, with construction vehicles moving in at the end of March or at the start of April when the rain stops,” he began.

He also offered harsh words for Bakirci, saying he had “tried to incite the local people against us”.

He pointed out that Bakirci had been elected as mayor in 2022 after having been endorsed by the north’s ruling coalition, but that “he has never even contacted us on the phone about the latest developments”.

Bakirci and Arikli both belong to ruling coalition parties, the UBP and the YDP respectively, with the three-party ruling coalition jointly endorsing candidates in the 2022 local elections.

He then added, “please do not overstep your limits and your manners”.