The process of evaluating tenders for volatile firefighting equipment is “on schedule,” Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Minister, Maria Panayiotou, said today. She also announced that on Sunday the two Jordanian helicopters that arrived in Cyprus on Easter Sunday were placed into operational readiness.
‘Since the first fire we had to deal with in April, we had recognised that we have this problem of availability of flight equipment because of the newly established procedures we follow,’ the Minister said in her remarks at an event organised by the Forestry Department on the occasion of the launch of Forest Protection Week.
Panayiotou said that ‘we cannot escape beyond the newly established procedures’ which, she said, are ongoing. At the moment, she continued, ‘we are in the process of evaluating those who have bid where we are so far on schedule that we said we would be.’
She pointed out that the air assets are a part of firefighting. ‘Because we knew that there would be this whole problem
with the aircraft with the newly established procedures that we follow and the time we have to go through, we proceeded to strengthen the ground forces of the Forestry Department, we have taken equipment around 5.5 million,’ she added.
Announcing the launch of Forest Protection Week, Panagiotou said that the Department of Forests has already received five fire trucks, while the receipt of five more is imminent this year, as well as the gradual receipt of 32 more by 2026. The delivery of 75 personnel carriers has also been completed, she noted.
Panayiotou referred also to a meeting chaired by President, Nikos Christodoulides, on the response to fires and other natural disasters, where new measures for fire prevention and response were decided, as well as the strengthening of operational preparedness for civil protection.
Source:Cyprus News Agency