The communities of Ayia Varvara and Alambra in Nicosia district are up in arms over a planned solar park with a capacity of 65 MW, Philenews reported on Wednesday.
Both community boards are objecting to the ambitious project raising both environmental as well as town planning issues.
They are also concerned that such a park will put the brakes on the area’s development.
At the same time, they raised questions over the procedure followed for the lease of state-owned plots and – in this specific case – an area of ​​more than 3.3 million square meters. This is worth €21.7 million based on Land Registry prices.
Auditor General Odysseas Michaelides has already  expressed the Service’s disagreement with the concession of state land without any procedures followed.
And he also said the government has repeatedly ignored the Service’s recommendations.
He explained that the correct procedure would be that – from the moment a private company is interested in acquiring government land – expressions of interest from other businesspeople should be sought first.
