By July 2025, the EAC will complete the replacement of its problematic equipment in the first seven most dangerous forested areas, as the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Maria Panagiotou, informed in a meeting held on Friday. The Minister told the KYPE that steps have been taken, but there is still a long way to go until the process is completed.
The meeting was held as a follow-up to a meeting held last week, after three fires had been recorded as a result of EAC cables in August and a total of 7 so far, in forested areas. The EAC had to inform the Minister about the progress of the measures it is taking to prevent and deal with the phenomenon.
The meeting was attended by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of EAC, Giorgos Petrou, the Hon. Director General of the General Directorate of Environment, the Director and Officials of the Forestry Department, representatives of the Cyprus Fire Service and officials of the EAC.
As the Minister told KYPE, the EAC submitted the updated timetable for completing the replacement of its equipment, which is done in the state forests as a priority. “Indeed, the planning that follows in seven areas that have been judged as the first and most dangerous areas, is proceeding according to the original plan that he had given us. The first region is completed in December '24 and the last region in this stage is completed in July '25”.
Mrs. Panagiotou stated that the goal of the Ministry was to complete the replacement of the problematic cables before the start of the fire protection summer season of 2025, “but as explained to us, this is not possible. The last two areas will be completed one in June '25 and the second in July '25,” he said.
The second deliverable that EAC had to develop was the development of the monitoring mechanism for the problem cables in the forested areas and communities, in addition to the existing monitoring mechanism that it had and has for the forest land. “The EAC has informed us that it will follow and adopt the same monitoring mechanism that it follows for the forested areas and in the paraforests and communities. This is a new mechanism developed by the EAC, which satisfies us”, said the Minister, adding that the EAC will also use special equipment to support the loose and other problematic pipelines located in the areas outside the forest land.
The third issue to which the Minister expected answers was the creation of an immediate response mechanism of the EAC during the night. As informed, from September 1st the EAC starts the pilot application of an on call shift during the night, from 12 to 7 in the morning.
The fourth deliverable was to develop a mechanism to remove the prunings. According to the Minister, the EAC has contacted the communities, as, according to the legislation, the matter is the responsibility of the communities. However, he noted that there is a problem with some intermediate spaces that are under the responsibility of the Provinces or EOAs and he should do more synergies for this.
“There was a positive response. It is important to cooperate and monitor the way in which the EAC works to be able to replace all this problematic equipment and above all to reduce the cases of cable fires. All those preventive actions must be taken in order to be able to reduce it”, said the Minister at the KYPE.
Ms. Panagiotou added that steps have been taken. “But there are other steps that need to be taken. We haven't solved the problem. The seven forest areas, in which the replacement of equipment has begun, are the most dangerous. Other areas will follow. At the end of September, I expect to be notified of the end of the route for the rest of the dangerous areas,” he concluded.
Source: KYPE
