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Akamas
Villagers
Fight
Back
Some 300
enraged
residents
of Inia
village
are now
taking
their
case to
the
Supreme
Court
staging
protests
for
their
rights
to
develop
and
improve
their
future
lifestyle.
Savvas
Charalambous
leader
of the
Inia
community
said
“villagers
in the
vicinity
will not
stop in
their
intentions
to
exercise
their
rights
through
the
European
Court of
Human
Rights
if no
satisfaction
is
gained
from
Supreme
Court
action.”
The
Government’s
plan
will
have a
catastrophic
effect
on
villagers’
livelihoods
preventing
them
from
developing
in
certain
areas.
The
provisions
in the
plan
include
strict
controls
on
general
development
based on
environmental,
architectural
and
aesthetic
considerations
and the
development
to
improve
roads
and
links
connecting
other
village
communities,
with an
anticipated
project
time
scale of
seven
years
and
costing
around
£100
million.
Angered
residents
heard
that
Agriculture
Minister
Fotis
Fotiou
had said
work to
implement
the plan
would
soon
start
without
consulting
them.
Fotiou
has
requested
that
leaders
from the
four
communities
speak to
him
personally
to find
a mutual
resolution
to the
problem.
As yet
he
claims
no one
has come
forward.
The
residents
are now
hoping
for the
Supreme
Court to
represent
their
case “we
want the
suspension
of the
government’s
decision
on the
implementation
of the
Akamas
Plan.”
Fitiou’s
concludes;
“the
right to
property
is
constitutional
and we
accept
this,
but the
right of
development
is the
right of
the
state
and the
state
has
decided
what
areas it
believes
can be
developed.”
He said
the
areas
designated
in the
Natura
2000
plan for
the
Akamas
are
areas
that
must be
protected,
not only
in the
Akamas,
but in a
total of
33 areas
around
Cyprus.
Community
leaders
say that
the
boundaries
of the
Akamas
should
be
restricted
to the
area of
the
national
park,
and
there is
no need
for it
to be
extended
to
private
land.
“The
issue of
Akamas
does not
only
concern
us, it
concerns
the EU,”
a
spokesperson
from the
Federation
of
Environmentalists
said.
“If it
is
protected,
the
Akamas
will
constitute
a major
aspect
of the
tourist
industry.”
The
Federation
said the
communities
and
private
land
owners
could
and
should
be
compensated
by the
government.
The
Green
Party
has
stated
that it
is
concerned
that the
government
was
having
second
thoughts
on the
protection
of the
Akamas.
“The
government
should
make a
final
decision
on the
issue of
Akamas;
a delay
will
cause a
catastrophic
end for
nature
and the
people
of the
region.
It is
not
possible
to limit
areas of
protection
in
nature
in the
name of
satisfying
private
interests.”
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