The construction company Aktor-INTRAKAT has filed a lawsuit in Cyprus courts against the Department of Public Works, demanding over €35 million in compensation after the Transport Ministry canceled their contract for the Paphos-Polis Highway project. Aktor’s CEO, Alexandros Exarchou, explained in a online press conference yesterday evening that the company had exhausted all options to resolve the project issues but was forced to take legal action in Cyprus and potentially at the European level.

Exarchou highlighted several challenges that stalled the project, including the large volume of unsuitable excavation materials, the lack of adequate storage space, issues with quarry supplies, incomplete expropriations, and delays by the Department of Public Works. He stated that the company was left with no way to proceed under the current contract terms.

According to Exarchou, despite multiple meetings with the Transport Minister—on March 13, May 14, July 31, and September 18, 2024—the project had reached an impasse, as excavation materials could not meet the necessary standards.

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Exarchou detailed that only 16% of the excavated materials met the requirements for construction, leaving an estimated need for 15 million cubic meters of suitable materials. He argued that continuing work under these conditions would breach Cypriot environmental laws, as it would require moving the equivalent of a mountain, like Troodos, to obtain enough material. Exarchou also claimed that a specification in the contract requiring two cumulative conditions for material suitability was a "typographical error" and that meeting even one condition should suffice.

The Ministry of Public Works cited four main reasons for contract termination: failure to submit designs, lack of schedules, abandonment of the project, and inadequate company capacity. Exarchou countered, stating that all requested studies and timelines had been submitted, but without responses from the Ministry. He also challenged the government's statement that expropriations and storage areas were available, calling the government’s claims false.

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Aktor plans to provide expert opinions to support the qualifications of its project team, citing a history of successfully completed projects.