Community leader vows to clean up Chlorakas beach filth

[memory man]

THE recently elected leader of Chlorakas community council in Paphos has vowed to clean up and maintain a ‘filthy’ beach which has been described as an embarrassment for Paphos.

On Sunday, as thousands of people across Cyprus take part in the annual cleaning campaign ‘Let’s do it Cyprus!’, Nicolas Liasides, the mukhtar of Chlorakas village said that the areas of coastline known as Vrexi and Kochas, which fall within the village boundaries, will be thoroughly cleaned by volunteers. He added that the area would be kept clean.

The district secretary of the Paphos Green party, Andreas Evlavis, said the amount of rubbish along that part of the coast was an embarrassment.

“We are a tourist island and Paphos is the European capital of culture. How many thousands of people walk along the coast and see this disgusting mess?” he asked.

Evlavis said that the area in question is beautiful, with many different species of flowers and trees, but that it is currently awash with discarded plastic bottles, wrappers and other items.

“Tourists see this and tell me they will never go to this area again. It’s terrible and so close to the hotels and numerous holiday apartments,” he said.

A fresh water stream which runs into the sea during winter time is also washing debris down and needs to be regularly cleaned, he said.

“There are people on the beach which is full of all this rubbish, what must they be thinking?”

Chlorakas is famous as the landing site of General George Grivas in the 1950s, at the start of his guerrilla campaign against British rule in Cyprus.

Close to the coastline is a plaque to commemorate Eoka’s gun-running activities from Greece, led by Grivas.

This part of the coast is a popular spot providing some of the most stunning sunsets in Cyprus and great views of the Honduran-flagged Demetrios II which ran aground in stormy seas in 1998.

Liasides has more than clean-up plans for his community’s piece of coast. He also wants to create new public beaches in the area.

Parts of the coastline lie on the Chlorakas/ Paphos municipal boundaries so any changes will be a joint effort.

“In one area, we will renovate the beach, we will add facilities such as toilets and a kiosk and there will be a lifeguard, maybe by next year. We are doing it with Paphos municipality as half of the area is with them and the other half is in Chlorakas,” said Liasides.

He said that the part which lies within the Chlorakas boundaries will go to tender and is currently in the planning stage. It will then need to be designed and licences approved.

Nicos Similides, head of the Paphos municipality beaches committee, confirmed that a request by one of the newly elected Paphos councillors had been made to the Paphos mayor, Phedonas Phedonos, to create a new public beach in the area.

“But with all of the investigations and plans that are underway to construct wave breakers in the sea along the Venus coast, which is very dangerous, I don’t see anything happening for some time,” he said.

The area is part of a deadly stretch of coastline, found just off the Tombs of the Kings’ road in Paphos. At least 15 people have drowned in the area in the past decade.

While the breakers will make the area far safer for swimming, it could mean that plans to create a public beach could take time.

Similides said that the series of breakers, which will eventually run from the sea at Kato Paphos castle up to Coral Bay, will affect the currents.

“If it’s possible to create a beach here which is safe for swimming, then the answer would be yes, but it’s too early yet,” he said.

In terms of Sunday’s clean up, Evlavis said that over 40,000 volunteers are expected to take part in clean up campaigns on Sunday in Cyprus, making it the largest ever. Local authorities, public and semi-public departments, political parties, schools, the National Guard and individuals have all registered.

Including Cyprus, 113 countries will take part in the campaign with the aim of collecting as much garbage as possible in one day.

‘Let’s do it’ is the largest voluntary programme and the largest civil movement ever organised. The idea came about in 2008 in Estonia when 50,000 volunteers managed to clean much of the country in a day.

Now more than 16 million people take part in the Let’s do it World! Campaign.

Last year, around 15,000 people took part in Cyprus, and the last four campaigns have cleaned the island from 200 tonnes garbage.

http://cyprus-mail.com/2017/04/02/commu ... ach-filth/

[geoffreys]

Good luck in that.
Geoff.

[Dominic]

Trouble is, lots of the crap comes from the sea itself. You only have to walk along remoter sections of the Akamas to see that.