The effectiveness of the newly introduced “Nestor” response plan should be tested through exercises involving a range of scenarios, Etek chairman Constantinos Constanti said on Friday, a day after the plan was put into practice following a serious accident on the Nicosia-Larnaca motorway.
The justice ministry said on Thursday night that the response to the accident, involving a truck and a private vehicle, had demonstrated in practice the philosophy and basic principles behind the plan.
Nestor was drawn up following a previous serious road incident which resulted in a motorway remaining closed for around seven hours.
Thursday’s accident presented a complex test for the new arrangements. The overturned truck was carrying gravel and towing a second articulated trailer, making its removal more difficult, according to the ministry.
Police coordinated the response, while private crews were brought in to clear gravel which had spilled across the road and private cranes were used to remove the vehicles.
Traffic was meanwhile diverted through alternative routes.
The ministry said the operation was completed safely and without serious disruption to motorists, crediting the immediate mobilisation and coordination of public services and private operators.
Justice Minister Costas Fitiris told the Cyprus Mail in an interview “I have always believed that a plan should never be tested for the first time during a real crisis. It must first be exercised so weaknesses can be identified and corrected.”
“Nestor will not be judged by how good it looks on paper,” he said. “It will be judged by how quickly and effectively the state responds to the next serious incident.”
Following Thursday’s incident Fitiris congratulated police, the services involved and private crews, saying the response demonstrated the purpose of Nestor, rapid mobilisation, effective coordination and the safe restoration of traffic with the least possible disruption to the public.
Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency on Friday, however, Constanti said that while the introduction of such a plan was a positive development, its effectiveness should now be tested under different circumstances.
Constanti said authorities should not limit their assessment to how Nestor performed during Thursday’s accident but examine whether it could respond effectively to other types of incidents.
“Exercises must be carried out with many different scenarios, so that we know how we respond and who is responsible for taking action in each case,” he said, adding that a comprehensive risk assessment framework was also necessary.
Constanti also suggested keeping cranes on standby so they could be deployed immediately.
He stressed that lengthy closures of major roads caused significant disruption to people’s daily lives and could have wider consequences, including affecting access to airports and ports.
“It does no one any credit for national road networks to be closed, for citizens to suffer and for airports and ports to be affected,” he said.
Constanti also called on the authorities to provide details on whether, and to what extent, Nestor worked as intended during Thursday’s operation.
If shortcomings were identified, he said, these should be made public so that discussion could take place and proposals could be put forward to improve the plan.
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