The government has abandoned plans to build the new central prison in Mathiatis, opting instead for a state-owned plot in the abandoned village of Ayios Sozomenos, the justice ministry announced on Tuesday.

The decision followed a meeting at the justice ministry attended by Minister Costas Fitiris and representatives of relevant government services, with the ministry stating the site was chosen “based on cost and time criteria.”

Officials examined the progress of procedures to date and set out next steps for the project, which the ministry said is “now progressing with siting in the Ayios Sozomenos area.”

Mathiatis had originally been the preferred location, but further technical examination found that developing the project there would require substantial additional infrastructure, including a new road network, sewage and water systems, as well as electricity infrastructure.

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The ministry said these requirements would have added both cost and time to the project.

By contrast, it said the Ayios Sozomenos plot offered clear advantages, since road, sewage, water and electricity infrastructure are readily accessible in the surrounding area, limiting both the cost and the time needed to prepare and deliver the project.

The ministry said the evaluation and selection of the new site would not delay preparatory work already underway for the project’s design and financing.

“The government’s goal is to create a modern prison complex in the most economical, fastest and most functional way, without compromising on security requirements, functionality and modern standards of prison institutions,” the ministry said.

The move follows sustained opposition to the Mathiatis site, with the village’s historical and environmental heritage protection group stating earlier on Tuesday that it strongly opposed the plan, describing the proposal as “unacceptable”.

The group had argued that the area was “environmentally sensitive and culturally significant” and said construction there should “not even be up for discussion,” citing findings from an environmental study carried out for a separate project in the area.

Fitiris had announced the Mathiatis location in March, citing its distance from residential areas, its status as state land, and the requirement for the facility to be sited near the capital.

He said construction was scheduled to begin next year, with completion expected within five years, and described the €300 million facility as designed to house 1,500 inmates.

That announcement drew immediate criticism from Mathiatis community leader Theodoros Tsatsos, who said the ministry had rushed the announcement without fully briefing residents.

Tsatsos raised concerns over the environmental impact of building in what he described as a “pine covered area,” and pointed to existing pressure on local resources, remarking that Mathiatis already hosts two army camps and land under Turkish Cypriot deeds.

Ayios Sozomenos is a deserted village near the Green Line, abandoned following intercommunal violence in February 1964.

The area contains a Byzantine cave chapel dedicated to Sozomenos, a hermit saint, the unfinished Latin church of Saint Mamas, as well as mud brick ruins left after the Turkish Cypriot community fled.