THE GREEN Party condemned the supply of water for the maintenance of golf courses, calling on the government to stop granting licences to create more greens.
The Green Party called a news conference to continue “exposing the big scandal of the golf courses”, adding that “the creation of golf courses was the excuse that cunning developers used, in order to purchase rural land for ridiculously cheap prices with the intention of converting it into building plots with the excuse that tourism would benefit.” Green Party Leader George Perdikis described the issue as an “economic scandal”. “We are against the creation of golf courses because they destroy the natural environment and scenery while wasting public resources of water for the maintenance of these golf courses.”Perdikis asked the government “to stop granting and approving licences for golf courses and halt the water supply in the existing golf courses”. The Greens are calling on the government to stop procedures for handing out new golf course building licences and to limit the water supplied to the existing courses and facilities. According to Green Party leader George Perdikis, a total of 14 golf courses are on the cards for the island.“Nothing will stop us from telling the truth, as we have been doing for the last 20 years concerning the golf courses. “All these constitute an economic scandal, which proves that the entire golf courses issue serves the interest of certain people, who make millions and billions, with the water and the land of the people and this country.” Perdikis said he considered it a “scandal and mockery for the public to suffer from water restrictions and a travesty for our farmers that see their plantations get destroyed because of lack of water while the developers take comfort in acquiring their licences and build villas which have already being sold.”The golf courses were built for the purpose of extending the tourist season. Numerous developers have profited at the expense of this tourism proposal, with hundreds of villas, estates and land already sold to foreign investors. However, tourism has not improved, the Greens point out. “This has already happened in three cases in Paphos, while a fourth course is under development.”Perdikis said: “The argument that supposedly some of these golf courses are irrigated by bore holes and that the water resources are not influenced is ridiculous… The claim that some of these golf courses are privately irrigated by private dams is also ridiculous.”
(Cyprus Mail 2008)
No comments:
Post a Comment