The Cabinet approved the updated Akama plan

It will be implemented in two phases

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The Council of Ministers was informed today about the progress of the implementation of the plan for the sustainable development of the Akama National Forest Park, which approved the updated plan, amounting to 38 million euros, which will be implemented in two phases.

The Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Kostas Kadis, said in his statements, after the session, at the presidential residence, in Troodos, that the first phase is already being implemented, it will be completed in 2023 and includes the improvement of the road network with an environmentally friendly way inside the forest park. The offer for this, he added, was already awarded about 10 days ago.

The second phase includes the creation of infrastructure to provide services to visitors at various points within the national forest park, said Mr. Kadis, recalling that all of these exceed 1 million each year. For this project, he said, tenders have already been announced.

The Minister of Agriculture stated that the three main objectives that the operation of the park will serve are to upgrade the experience of visitors, to protect the natural ecosystem of Akamas, and to provide additional benefits to the communities that will reap from the high traffic. Inside the park, he continued, no feeding, accommodation or entertainment activities will be allowed, these will be done in the communities that will reverse their course of degradation of the last years and lead to a process of sustainable development.

Asked to comment on the ongoing reactions of the residents of the area, such as Inia, Kostas Kadis said that the residents of Inia are protesting the local plan which is a different matter and under the supervision of the Ministry of Interior. "We have not announced the final local plan, nor the compensatory measures which will be announced together. I think that the residents of Inia should also be patient, because the announcements on this matter will include something for them," he said.

He noted that both the sustainable development plan for the Akama National Forest Park and the local plan have been widely consulted. They have achieved, he said, the maximum degree of consensus and with the decisions he estimates will be made within the next month regarding the local plan and with the implementation of the plan for Akamas, "it will close this matter on a positive note and for the protection of the environment but also for the development of local communities".

He recalled that Inia had proposed areas for tourist development that were not accepted and could not be accepted if areas for tourist development above the Gulf of Lara were accepted. With the instructions of the President of the Republic himself, he continued, "we are currently also studying the compensatory measures that will be given to the residents of the area, who had some expectations for the development of their property".

He announced that on August 29 he will visit the Lara area with the Director of the Fisheries Department and invited the President of the community to open the nests together "to see that the species is indeed breeding in this area, as Cypriots and international experts repeatedly say . "And there is absolutely no doubt as to the importance of this particular habitat," he said.

Popular markets

The Minister of Agriculture also mentioned that the Council of Ministers approved today the bill that differentiates the way public markets operate and their supervision will now be transferred from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Ministry of Agriculture. Georgia. The operating procedures of the public markets, he said, are being simplified and become easier and he characterized as more important that the exclusive participation of producers, farmers in the public markets is foreseen. "In other words, the presence of intermediaries will not be allowed and this was a constant request of the agricultural movement", he said.

In the next period, said Mr. Kadis, the bill will be submitted to the Parliament and he expressed the hope that it will be discussed soon, so that it will be implemented.

Source: KYPE