A major redevelopment project at the Liopetri river has been under way for six years, costs have overrun by at least two million euros, and the Town Planning Department cannot say when work will be completed, Phileleftheros found during a visit to the area.
The project, which began in 2020 and was due for delivery in March 2023, was never finished despite repeated extensions. In November 2024 the Interior Ministry terminated the contracts of both the contractor and the project engineer. The work was subsequently divided into three stages, but in its response to Phileleftheros the Town Planning Department was unable to give a completion date.
Businesses devastated
The delays have left local businesses in ruins. The family restaurant of Margarita Nikolaou, which has operated since 1963 and employed 30 people supporting ten families, has been unable to open for five years.
“It was a very beautiful river, it did not need this kind of change. It needed some walkways so people could walk, some lighting, but that was all. Now it has lost its charm. People came to our restaurant and saw something they could not see anywhere else. It was the only place in Cyprus that remained traditional and picturesque,” she said.
Nikolaou said she was told that assistance was conditional on the restaurant reopening first. “It is sad that nobody came to help us open. Where are we supposed to find money to take out a loan like that?” she asked.
Even if her family could afford a renovation, she added, they could not reopen because the area around the restaurant remains a building site. “How can we go to work in conditions like this?” she said.
Most professional fishermen have left the area and dispersed to other fishing shelters, waiting for the quay works to be completed before returning. One of the few who remained, 75-year-old fisherman Spyros Zambas, was blunt.
“The river is dead, they destroyed it,” he told Phileleftheros. “It was a beautiful natural environment, people came and saw it. Now they have destroyed it. It has been six years and not even half of it is finished. When will it end? I am 75 years old and I can see I will not live to see this project finished,” he said.
Asked about claims that some fishermen had requested the project, Zambas pushed back. “It was a minority that wanted it. The majority of us did not,” he said.
Community leader voices disappointment
Liopetri community leader Markos Koumis said he receives complaints from residents about the state of the river. While expressing satisfaction that the project has now moved forward following the contractor’s termination, he was candid about the outcome.
“As it was, the river was more beautiful. It was the most picturesque fishing shelter that everyone loved,” he said. “We feel some disappointment about the design.” He attributed the delays to the previous contractor and expressed hope that works would be completed within two years.
Three-stage completion plan
Following the contract termination, the Town Planning Department launched procedures to complete the project in stages. The first stage, finishing the road network to restore access for fishermen and the two restaurants, was completed in July 2025 at a cost of 469,000 euros plus VAT.
The second stage covers the construction of quays to allow professional fishermen to return. Initially estimated at 2,150,000 euros, the tender failed to attract a successful bid and a second tender was launched at nearly double that budget.
Construction began on February 26, 2026. The Town Planning Department said works on section A, covering three of the quays, carry a contractual duration of four months to allow fishermen to return, while section B, covering the remaining 15 quays, has a 12-month contractual duration from the start of works.
The third and final stage covers the completion of all remaining infrastructure, including an entrance pavilion, a bicycle parking shelter, a fishing and fish-sorting education centre, car parks, a footbridge across the river, dry storage facilities, a road, a pedestrian and cycling path, and landscaping.
Audit findings and cost overrun
The project’s original estimate was 8.1 million euros. Costs have since risen by two million euros, not including the additional expenditure that will arise from the ongoing completion procedures, according to Phileleftheros.
The Audit Service identified problems including poor workmanship. The former Auditor General warned the previous government as early as April 2022 and called for the termination of the contract to be examined. The issue was taken up again by the new Auditor General, who in a memorandum dated November 8, 2024 recommended contract termination and attributed responsibility to the Town Planning Department as well.
