In Cyprus, whichever sector one chooses to examine, the conclusion is the same: the country is operating on autopilot. Short-term planning leads to fragmented and poorly substantiated decisions, many of which are later reversed by successive governments. There is a chronic inability to design long-term strategy with a horizon measured in decades. Reforms become hostage to vested interests and are ultimately sacrificed to avoid political cost.
The absence of strategic planning is not abstract. It is lived reality. Every day. Whether the issue is traffic congestion, energy security, water management, the Cyprus problem, environmental protection, the cost of living, waste management, banking instability, rural depopulation, chaotic urban development or growth without structure.
We move from crisis to crisis without knowing when the next will erupt. We endure international turbulence without serious preparation. We drift from one scandal to the next because, without a recorded long-term vision and concrete actions, without institutional counterweights and oversight, systematic rule-breaking finds fertile ground and social consequences deepen.
This summer, and likely indefinitely until permanent solutions are found, society will once again confront two enduring crises: water shortages and electricity shortages.
The Director of the Water Development Department was entirely candid when she told Politis that “the scientific data has been published since 2006 and should have rung alarm bells from then, placing water infrastructure at the same priority level as today.” But even now, is there a plan?
Offering generous incentives to young farmers to enter the sector while the most basic ingredient of agricultural development, water, has been depleted through decades of policy inertia is not strategy. Nor is the absence of guidance toward drought-resistant crops suited to local conditions. It is the continuation of a long-standing failure.
According to the Cyprus Economy and Competitiveness Council, water scarcity currently represents the single greatest risk to the country’s economy. Meanwhile, tourism numbers continue to rise, the population grows and the construction sector remains in full swing.
On the energy front, the record is equally troubling. For more than 25 years, governments have failed to design and implement a realistic energy strategy. Energy insecurity and high costs persist.
Over a quarter of a century has passed since the first plans for the arrival of natural gas. New generation units at the Electricity Authority of Cyprus plant in Dhekelia have been pushed back to 2030, long after the ageing units were due to be disconnected in 2019. Two new natural gas units at Vasilikos remain boxed and inactive. There is no meaningful energy storage infrastructure, and there is little indication it will arrive in time.
Under these conditions, the conclusion that the country survives largely by chance is not an exaggeration.