Pafilia pledges to plant 6500 trees to celebrate World Environment Day

PRLog (Press Release) - Jun 09, 2009 -
To celebrate World Environment Day on 5th June, Pafilia Property Developers has made a pledge on the UNEP’s Billion Tree Campaign (http://www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign/about/index.asp) website to plant 6500 trees by June 2010 at its Minthis Hills project in the Pafos area of Cyprus.  These trees will all be indigenous to Cyprus and are a key part of the concept of Minthis Hills.  250 trees have already been planted, and eventually a total of at least 30,000 will be planted.  In addition to the trees, 3500 vines have already been added to the golf course and indigenous plants and shrubs will be planted across the entire 5 million square metre Minthis Hills resort.  Pafilia will also carry out numerous other environmental initiatives yet to be announced.

In summary:
   Already planted   To be planted by June 2010   To be planted by completion of Minthis Hills
Trees   250   6500   30,000
Plants   2100   60,000   100,000
Grape vines   3500   TBC   TBC

According to Evangelia Eliadou, pictured planting the first tree, “The UN’s World Environment Day forces us to stop and take a look at what we are doing for the environment, something very close to our hearts at Pafilia.  Over the years we have always tried to replant any trees that we need to move for construction either back on the same site or at one of our other projects.  With Minthis Hills, we really have an opportunity to show the way forward for developers in Cyprus and increase the awareness of the environment throughout our island.”

Amongst the trees to be planted at Minthis Hills will be olive, cypress, hawthorn, oak, maple, cedar, bay, carob, lemon, orange, almond, pomegranate and fig trees.  There will also be vineyards and olive groves that property owners at Minthis Hills will be able to rent to produce their own label wine or olive oil.

At Minthis Hills, Pafilia is not only doing everything it can to preserve the environment, it is going a step further and enhancing it, restoring the natural beauty of the landscape to how it was before the area was farmed.  By using indigenous planting and ensuring it is not overly manicured, Minthis Hills will have its own clear cut identity – you will know you are in Cyprus and at Minthis Hills.  Unlike many other developments that transplant a concept from another part of the world so that the identity is lost, the delicate ecosystem  at Minthis Hills will be maintained.  Green buffers will be used to hide the roads and between properties to ensure no one is overlooked by his neighbours.  The villas will be built into the contours of the hillside, reducing the environmental impact and at the same time, there will be no building on the hilltops, preserving the views of the countryside.

As well as Minthis Hills, Pafilia carries out landscaping for all its projects, with its larger green areas and well maintained communal gardens a key differentiator in the market.  The company has created a nursery, where it grows many of its plants enabling it to offer landscaping to its clients with a choice of different levels of maturity of the plants.  It also has expertise in working with the local drought tolerant plants to ensure that the minimum of water is used by landscaping with the best results.

Besides landscaping, there will be numerous other environmental initiatives at Minthis Hills.  Designed by Woods Bagot, the houses themselves are extremely thermally efficient, utilising natural shading, cross ventilation and are highly insulated, via the walls and high quality low emissivity windows.