A bit too large for a private enterprise, but let’s imagine it as such: Would any business owner start a project—say, landscaping—with a budget of 8-odd million, only to leave it half-finished? And more importantly, would they just shrug it off as if nothing happened?
Another project has joined our growing list of white elephants—this time, the Liopetri River. It was a beautiful natural landscape that hardly needed much intervention.
But in this country, when we say ‘development’, we can’t seem to imagine anything without pouring tonnes of concrete. We must build structures as if we haven’t got enough already. That’s just my take, mind you.
The real issue now is that this natural beauty has been reduced to a massive construction site for four years, with no end in sight and mounting costs.
Even before the deadline, the Audit Office had been sounding alarm bells since 2022. Monitoring the work’s progress, they warned of significant delays and advised terminating the contractor’s agreement.
Their recommendations fell on deaf ears. The deadline passed last March, an extension was granted until this coming January, but when it became clear that meaningful progress was a pipe dream, the Interior Ministry finally pulled the plug on the contract.
Now we’re back to square one, with unknown final costs—not counting the losses suffered by local fishermen or potential compensation claims from restaurant owners, which could send the bill even higher.
If this were an isolated case, one might say “these things happen”.
But look around: The Akamas projects (which weren’t necessary either) lie abandoned, scarring the landscape. The Archaeological Museum is falling behind schedule. Eleftheria Square took a decade to complete, with its final cost remaining a mystery.
The e-justice system collapsed, the prison mobile signal blocking system affected the entire Agios Andreas area, the power cable meant to connect Cyprus-Greece-Israel lies at the bottom of the sea, the Vasilikos terminal is competing for the title of biggest state scandal, and the Paphos-Polis Chrysochous road makes the historic XEKTE scandal look like small fry.
How much incompetence can there be? How many millions can be thrown down the drain like this?
Perhaps we should turn the state into a company and bring in a businessman to run it—might that finally do the trick?