Authorities halt house build ‘in protected area’

CONSTRUCTION of a house at Mersinlik, on the north coast, was stopped this week by İskele District Office after complaints by environmentalists that it was inside a legally protected area.

The Oran Construction site is said to lie within an environmental “buffer zone” under the Natura 2000 protection plan adopted by the government in 2008.

Biologist Robin Snape, of the Alagadi-based Marine Turtle Conservation Project, said they had submitted written protests “to all government departments”.

“This is an important loggerhead turtle nesting beach . . . which we have been surveying for years and it is under protection.

“Loggerhead populations have not been doing so well for the past few years and we need to preserve their habitat.”

Loggerhead turtle beaches include Akdeniz, where 40 per cent of nests were lost to feral dogs this year, and Güzelyalı where the municipality plans to build a beach bungalow complex.

Mr Snape said: “The map clearly shows that this is a buffer zone where no building should be allowed. Its limit is the North Coast Road, which has been confirmed by the mappers.”

Protection extends from the west of Tatlısu Municipality’s beach to a few hundred metres east of Kaplıca beach, covering 9.4km of coastline, around 127 hectares of land and 1,400 hectares of sea.

İskele District Officer Mustafa Uruncuoğlu confirmed that he had sent police to the site on Tuesday to halt the construction, adding: “I have not given permission and will be reviewing the case. The project is still at the discussion stage and it is true that the builder should not have begun work until permits were granted.”

Environmental Protection Department head Abdullah Aktolgalı said: “We were not consulted over this project and the file is being returned to my department. I will inspect the plans and give my answer next week.”

Sandstone rock formations have already been cut to start foundations and concreting which began earlier this month.

Chamber of Town Planners head Merter Refikoğlu challenged the authorities to take charge of the situation.

“If the construction company responsible does not have permission and the work is illegal, we demand that the strongest possible legal action be taken . . . If it is allowed, we request to see a copy of the environmental impact assessment for this site, and we demand the cancellation of this permission.”

Oran Concstruction director Olsan Oran, also the National Unity Party’s Gazimağusa regional head, denied that the 200m2 house with pool that he was building for a customer infringed the protection.

“The maps are wrong. The site is not inside the Tatlısu-Büyükkonuk protected area. It is 300 metres from the sea,” he said.