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- The affected area near the outdoor gym is surrounded by hotels, restaurants and homes, and the walkway section closest to the sea has been closed for months.
- Residents say new holes have appeared near homes and in places repaired by the municipality only weeks ago.
- Larnaca Mayor Andreas Vyras urged state services to act, saying the municipality lacks technical expertise and legal responsibility for coastal erosion.
- Public Works Department said responsibility lies elsewhere, while a planned study will assess breakwaters and immediate safety measures are needed.
Coastal erosion in Oroklini is continuing to worsen along the seafront walkway, with sections of the path beginning to collapse and the ground sloping further towards the sea.
The affected area is located near the outdoor gym and is surrounded by hotels, restaurants and homes. The section of the walkway closest to the sea has been closed by Larnaca Municipality for several months.
Residents have reported new holes appearing near homes and at locations that were repaired by the municipality only weeks ago.
Photographs taken on September 2 showed tourists walking close to erosion holes and swimming in areas where sections of the lower part of the walkway had collapsed.
Erosion holes have also appeared near homes and hotels and in the area in front of the outdoor gym.
Municipality calls for urgent action
Almost a year after the problem was identified, no permanent solution has been found, with responsibility for addressing the erosion remaining disputed between authorities.
Larnaca Mayor Andreas Vyras has called on the relevant state services to take action and address the problem as a whole.
“We will try to repair the walkway and there will also be a relevant allocation in the 2027 budget,” Vyras said, adding that some repairs had already been carried out and that the municipality would provide additional funding where possible.
However, he said a municipality did not have either the technical expertise or the legal responsibility to address coastal erosion.
Vyras said the municipality was awaiting the results of a study by the Public Works Department. He acknowledged that the study could take up to two years but said some repairs would be carried out in the meantime.
He warned that the problem was likely to return if the underlying erosion was not addressed.
“The situation is dangerous,” Vyras said, adding that the deterioration was visible despite previous interventions and that the solutions currently being implemented were temporary.
Experts raise concerns over breakwaters
Scientists from Democritus University of Thrace and a French company specialising in coastal erosion control previously told Larnaca Municipality that the area’s breakwaters had not been installed correctly.
Coastal engineer Dr Xenia Loizidou expressed similar concerns in an earlier report, warning about the impact of both breakwaters and concrete walkways built close to the coastline.
The area has also been the site of three drowning incidents this year near breakwaters in Oroklini and Pyla. The victims included two 20-year-old men from Somalia and a 35-year-old woman from Romania, whose young daughter remains in hospital.
Following the first tragedy, the Cyprus Tourism Organisation and Larnaca Municipality called on the Larnaca District Administration and Public Works Department to take measures.
The municipality later installed signs warning swimmers that the water becomes suddenly deeper between the breakwaters.
Public Works Department points to municipality
The Public Works Department referred questions about the erosion to Larnaca Municipality and a planned study.
The Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works has decided, following a request from Larnaca Municipality, to expand the study area for the protection and improvement of the coastal front in Pyla to include part of the Oroklini coastline.
The study will examine whether the existing breakwaters, constructed during the 1990s, require improvements.
The Public Works Department said the walkway was designed and implemented by the Department of Town Planning and Housing in cooperation with Larnaca Municipality, which selected its location and construction type.
It said responsibility for maintaining or modifying the walkway did not fall under the Public Works Department. However, it added that the department had previously proposed measures to the municipality, which were not adopted.
Regarding concerns that the breakwaters could be contributing to the erosion, the department said all public works are carried out following studies that, among other things, assess the long-term evolution of the coastline.
For now, the priority is for all relevant authorities to cooperate and take immediate measures, particularly to ensure the safety of people using the walkway, while a comprehensive assessment of the coastline is carried out.
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