By Marinos Pavlikas *
For more than forty years, businessmen and hoteliers of free Famagusta have been coming and going to the Government Services with plans to build a golf course and deal with decades of process obstruction, while other provinces can enjoy the luxury of services with their guests. and infrastructure of similar developments.
Last Tuesday, January 22, the Environmental Impact Assessment Committee met in the presence of a total of ten government departments and organizations to consider the Master Plan for the construction of a golf course in the Cape Greco area of Ayia Napa.
The consequences
The Special Ecological Impact Assessment Report in Protected Areas based on Article 16 of the Law on Protection and Management of Nature and Wildlife of 2018, states that "the construction and operation of the golf course within the protected area and related tourist developments will significant adverse effects on conservation objectives, on the cohesion, structure and operation of the habitats of the Site of Community Importance CY 3000005 "Cape Greco" and the Special Protection Zone CY 3000002 "Cape Greco".
As the report summarizes, the main effects that will occur are, among others, the degradation of important species of flora, the loss of natural habitats and the disturbance of bird species. These effects are due, according to the report, to the nature and size of the project, which is located within a protected area, in an area with wild natural vegetation (mainly invisible), while it is emphasized that any development in the area will create additional pressures to change land use. , with the opening of roads and other infrastructure, such as electricity, water supply and road network. It is noted that the area in question, "Aetopetres-Perneres" and "Mazeri tou Koukou" is adjacent to anarchic building development by dozens of tourist villas.
Regarding the impact on water resources, as various voices of protest have been heard from time to time, both the study and the impact assessment report do not make special reference, since the Seaside Lakes-Ayapa Sewerage Council already wrote a letter on May 9, 2018, to The Department of Urban Planning, gives positive views on the project, informing, at the same time, that the proposed project is adjacent to the facilities of the Wastewater Treatment Plant and its connection for both tertiary irrigation purposes and wastewater collection purposes could be implemented without special difficulties.
Compensatory measures
At the same time, the Impact Assessment Study in the area of the Natura 2000 Network (SCC "Cape Cape Greco" and SPA "Cape Greco") from the construction and operation of the golf course, prepared in April 2018 by IACO ltd, proposes a series of remedial and compensatory measures, which on the one hand aim at mitigating the effects of the project implementation and on the other hand at strengthening the important elements of the Natura 2000 area.
The study notes that some of these measures have already been incorporated during the project design phase in order to contribute to the conservation of the area. As mentioned, the construction of a golf course within an environmentally sensitive area can adopt design elements, construction methods, actions and operating practices, which can minimize to the greatest extent the impact of development on the habitat, and its flora and fauna. area.
In addition to minimizing impacts, the study proposes compensatory measures that can offset the impact of growth in the Natura 2000 area with mechanisms that can generate measurable benefits in another area. It should be noted that the biodiversity offsetting system is widely used abroad (Australia, England, USA, etc.) and in most cases is included through the environmental legislation of each country.
Among other things, it is proposed to maintain clusters of natural vegetation within the plot in areas capable of maintaining the cohesion of the area's habitats, enhancing vegetation and habitats by planting native species, using appropriate lighting, adopting an efficient irrigation system and collecting rainwater. , as well as the expansion of the Natura 2000 site to compensate for the effects.
The history
However, while we are already in the year 2019, the idea and the efforts to create such development date back to the 1980s, when more than forty hoteliers from the province, in order to address the seasonality and attract winter tourism, proceeded to setting up a company to jointly promote their request.
Subsequently, during the presidency of Glafkos Clerides, an application was submitted to the state and the first approval was granted. Initially, the project did not include any development other than the stadium and its infrastructure, but the need for viability of the investment, as well as the creation of a more attractive proposal for finding investors, led to the inclusion of commercial and hotel developments.
In February 2014, the Council of Ministers included the project in the golf courses with incentives in accordance with the decision of 2015, granting it the 14th license. The Council of Ministers also decided to move the space that was the previous lease to the edge of Natura 2000 where there are private plots of entrepreneurs interested in doing the project and thus gave the opportunity to the company Ayia Napa Forest Golf Ltd to proceed with developments around the area of the stadium, including a 5-star hotel, villas, apartments, restaurants, shops and others, as provided by the "New policy for the development of golf courses in Cyprus".
The total land to be developed, which is expected to be occupied by the proposed project, amounts to 1.037.628 m2, of which 590.000 m2 leased state forest land, 139.479 m2 leased state land and 308.149 m2 private land.
An Application for a Planning Permit has been submitted for this area, which concerns a general spatial plan (Master Plan) that includes the creation of an 18-hole golf course, including ancillary facilities (Clubhouse, Parking lots, Field maintenance, etc.), and other related developments that include tourist development with a luxury five-star hotel with a capacity of five hundred beds, commercial development with daily use shops and a multipurpose hall as well as residential development, according to the decision of the Council of Ministers of 16/02/2005.
It is worth noting that the state land will be granted with an annual market rent that will be calculated by the Department of Land Registry at a rate of up to 5% of the total market value after calculating the total requested area and the rent will be reviewed every five years. The lease is valid for a period of 33 years and can be renewed for a second and third term of 25 years each, unless one of the parties notifies the other, 6 months before the end of the term, that it does not wish to continue the lease for substantive reasons. . The state land will be used exclusively for the construction of a golf course with its associated facilities without any other development.
They love golf
In his statements, the President of the Famagusta Tourist, Commercial and Industrial Company, Petros Petrou, stated that projects such as the golf course and the marinas are vital for the province of Famagusta and that businessmen are not open to any negotiations. It is, he said, projects that have been planned before other projects that have been implemented in other provinces and what the province of Famagusta is claiming today, he said, is something that the other provinces enjoy.
In his turn, the President of PASYXE Famagusta Theodoros Takkas stressed that the hoteliers of Famagusta are in favor of the creation of the golf course, as they consider it as an enrichment project, which will contribute to combating the biggest problem in the region, which is seasonality, by attracting tourists of special interest during the winter months.
The project was recently mentioned by President Anastasiadis, who stressed that for the golf course in question, efforts are being made to overcome some problems that arise due to the area that has been declared a forest area. Nevertheless, he expressed the belief that a redesign would overcome the problems.
* Source: TODAY's Sunday (27/1/2019) / Marinos Pavlikkas