Controversial plans for new quarry halted

A meeting held at the Environment Ministry on Thursday put an end to controversial plans to create a quarry zone in the Larnaca District, after civil society raised a ruckus over the thousands of trees that would need to be axed to make way for the quarry.

During the meeting, attended by the Environment Minister, heads of involved Departments of the Ministry such as the Geological Survey Department, the Mines Service, and Forestry Department, as well as other stakeholders, it was decided that alternatives would be sought.

These alternatives will focus on the utilization of cyclical economy processes, that will be determined through a study currently being conducted on the sustainable development of mineral resources, expected to be completed by the end of 2021, and which will establish the framework to be followed until 2050.

The study will examine all matters concerning Cyprus's mineral resources, and will exhibit a particular emphasis on circular economy processes and recycling, new industry practices, as well as the modernization of the institutional framework and the quarry licensing process.

In this framework, stakeholders agreed on Thursday that a re-evaluation of needs to be made, to be followed by new proposals for policies governing mineral resources.

As such, it was decided that all plans for the creation of a new quarry zone in the Larnaca District would be scrapped for now, to be re-evaluated following the completion of the study.