The efforts of the Forestry Department to lease two helicopters for firefighting this year has been unsuccessful so far since both tender procedures have been cancelled.
During the past two years, the Republic of Cyprus had been leasing two Russian helicopters Kamov, however, due to the EU sanctions against Russia this is not possible anymore.
The Department’s efforts to find helicopters for the hot summer months are ongoing but the problem has to do with the limited offer compared to the increase demand of such means.
The Forestry Department is now waiting for the green light from the Tender Board so that negotiations will begin with the only company that showed interest during the process of the second tender. In the meantime the process for the purchase of two firefighting places is in progress.
