Unauthorized activities continue to plague the Coastal Protection Zone in the Larnaca district, following recent actions by local authorities.
After the removal of two illegal kiosks in Perivolia, which had been operating for fifteen years, the Larnaca District Administration has discovered significant violations at the Sofades Beach in Kiti. This area, allocated exclusively for kitesurfing training since 2014, has been the site of ongoing infractions.
Three kitesurfing clubs operating in the area have built facilities without the necessary construction permits. One such facility was found to have converted a container into a makeshift lodging space, creating three rooms allegedly rented out to clients. The Larnaca District Administration uncovered these rooms last Friday and issued a notice to the facility manager to demolish them. Additionally, notices were also issued for the removal of two caravans discovered near another club’s facilities.
Larnaca District Officer Odysseas Hatzistephanou reported finding a container with three rooms and a kitchen, including beds and a television. This container had been converted into living quarters but was recently emptied and repurposed as a storage space for kitesurfing equipment. The District Officer noted that the facility manager had claimed the rooms were used for the family’s rest.
Further complaints have emerged about illegal activities at the site. Reports suggest that one of the facilities has been operating as a bar serving alcoholic beverages without a license and hosting parties. These issues have been reported to the Ministry of Interior and the Larnaca District Administration since 2018. Green Movement MPs George Perdikis and Charalampos Theopemptou had previously raised parliamentary questions to former Interior Minister Constantinos Petrides, who confirmed that no building or alcohol licenses had been issued for these establishments.
Our newspaper also addressed the Dromolaxia Meneou Municipality, to whose municipal boundaries Kiti now belongs, since the three schools pay taxes for services and facilities provided by the community for roads and cleaning. The mayor, Kypros Andronicou, who rushed to the scene, confirmed that “the rooms that are reported to be rented out have been demolished”, indicating that the unions on the site must abide by law and order.
This area has been excluded from the bathers’ protection areas and is delimited by buoys placed by the Department of Electromechanical Services based on an order issued by the Minister of Transport. Meanwhile, there are also complaints that some people, who practice the sport of kiteboarding, violate the marked area and extend their courses to beaches where bathers are present, putting them in danger.
It should be noted that kitesurfing, like all sports, should be supported in various ways by the state. Therefore, it is right that facilities are granted, especially for an Olympic sport for which our country was represented for the first time this year at the Olympic Games in France. However, when some people take advantage of these facilities by creating infrastructure that has nothing to do with the sport and its development in Cyprus, but with speculation, then the state must and must intervene so that the space is used exclusively for the purpose for which it was created.
