The Parliamentary agriculture committee members have urged the Town Planning Department to reverse its decision to terminate contracts with both the engineer and contractor of the Liopetri River project, amid growing concerns over further delays to the development.
The appeal came during yesterday’s committee meeting, where AKEL MP and committee chairman Yiannakis Gavriel warned that the project is now “up in the air”.
He noted that the Town Planning Department has a 14-day window from the termination notice to find ways to continue the work, should consensus be reached.
Local fishermen attending the session reported that work had been progressing normally recently and expressed concern about the project’s future following the terminations.
They also highlighted that they had received no compensation for delays to date.
The contractor stated their sole aim was to complete the work within the approved timeframe, while the project engineer accused the Town Planning Department of improperly shifting responsibility and called the contract terminations “untimely, wrong and illegal”.
The Auditor General revealed that only 38.3% of works have been completed after 44.5 months – 148.33% of the contracted time period.
The audit office had flagged issues with the contract since April 2022.
The Interior Ministry terminated both contracts last week citing failure to meet contractual obligations.
Officials say they are now exploring alternative solutions to complete the project as quickly and cost-effectively as possible.
