330 families told to leave caravan site at Governor's Beach

Around 330 families living in caravans at the Governor's Beach campsite in Limassol have been told to leave, the House refugee committee heard on Tuesday. About 102 of them use the caravans as permanent homes.

The Turkish Cypriot Properties Management Service posted notices saying the site stands on Turkish Cypriot land and that the operator's contract has expired. Committee chairman Nikos Kettiros said MPs learned of the matter only after the notices appeared, argued that the state had failed for years to act, and said the committee does not support illegality but wants a real solution for families with nowhere else to live.

Residents currently pay between €1,100 and €1,500 a year; many have been there for over 30 years and turned their caravans into permanent homes, and some children attend school in nearby Pentakomo. DISY MP Giorgos Lysandrides, citing the deputy tourism ministry, said some caravans are being rented out through Airbnb, while other people had bought caravans only recently and are now in limbo.

Direct Democracy MP Demetris Souglis told the committee that after the Turkish Cypriot owner died the land passed to an interim manager and was sold on to a foreign investor who intends to build a hotel. The site was assigned to the Cyprus Tourism Organisation about 30 years ago; when permanent structures appeared it said it could no longer manage the site, and responsibility passed to Pentakomo community council.

Next door, a separate project, The Rocks, is under review for a 34,714 sq m coastal plot, with plans for a 126-room hotel, 26 tourist villas and 73 apartments, possibly operating by 2029. The Legal Service and the properties service asked for time to examine the facts, and the committee requested the contracts and related documents.