The construction of an oil processing plant and other agricultural products in Paphos is planned by Arch Invest & Management, which has secured the approval of the Environmental Authority.
According to the environmental report, the proposed project concerns the construction of an olive oil bottling and storage unit. This development will involve an integrated olive oil bottling and olive processing unit with modern machinery that meets all European Union specifications for food machinery.
The project is delimited within the administrative boundaries of the community of Agia Varvara in the Paphos District and will be constructed on a government industrial plot located in the "2nd Industrial Area of Paphos".
The proposed project will include the following machinery and equipment for oil bottling:
• Semi-automatic filling machine 250 ml-5L
• Semi-automatic capping machine for aluminum caps
• Semi-automatic capping machine for plastic caps
• Semi-automatic volumetric filler 250 ml-5L
• Semi-automatic volumetric filler 250 ml-3L
• Semi-automatic labeling machine for cylindrical bottles • Semi-automatic labeling machine for square bottles
• Automatic labeling for cylindrical, square glass bottles and PET plastic bottles from 250ml up to 1L.
• Stainless steel oil tanks 3×5000L, 2×2500L and 2×1000L.
The proposed project will include the following equipment for the table olive processing plant:
• Olive receiving hopper with washing pump • Conveyor belt with buckets for transporting the washed olives to the destemming machine • Destemming machine (stem removal)
• Transfer film
• Screening film
• Hopper for receiving olives after sorting
• Conveyor belt with bins for feeding the sorting machine (size sorting)
• Size sorting machine
• Barrel turner
• Olive receiving hopper for pitting
• Core feeding belt
• Olive washing hopper
• Conveyor belt with bins
• Screening film
• Vibrating olive feeder on the conveyor belt that feeds the weighing machine.
• Weighing machine feed conveyor belt, type L
• Multi-head weighing machine
• Three multi-purpose conveyor belts.
The proposed project will also include the following sub-parts:
• Mainly factory space with an area of 695.80 sq.m.
• Office, dining room/kitchen and storage room of 35.40 sq.m.
• Changing rooms and sanitary facilities for men, women and the disabled 31.80 sq.m.
• Semi-underground parking space of 266 sq.m.
• Uncovered space of 545 sq.m.
The total area of the project is 1,574 sq.m.
The proposed project is expected to be completed within approximately 18 months, provided that no serious and insurmountable difficulties and problems arise.
The cost with a state subsidy is €450,000.
According to the environmental study, the development of a modern integrated olive oil bottling and olive processing unit is planned with modern machinery that meets all European Union specifications for food machinery. Based on the technical and economic study that was prepared, the total cost for the machinery and building facilities will amount to approximately €450,000, which, according to the same study, makes the proposed project economically viable.
It is emphasized that the company Arch Invest & Management Ltd has been the owner of a modern olive pressing unit for the production of olive oil since 2005, which is located in the 2nd Industrial Area of Paphos. This industrial unit is located very close to the immediate study area at a distance of only 50-60 meters.
Since 2016, the company has also been involved in the bottling, distribution and marketing of extra virgin olive oil. In 2023, upon request, the Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry granted the industrial plot, which is located in the same industrial area and a very short distance from the first one, as mentioned above, with the aim of expanding the company's activity to the processing of table olives and possibly also to relocate the bottling unit.
It is noted that the proposed project (processing of agricultural products) is included in the projects that the Government, and in particular the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, promotes with special incentives that include subsidies of up to 50% for the construction of buildings and the purchase of machinery. Within the framework of this very plan (Strategic Plan of the Common Agricultural Policy - Intervention AA 4.2, 2023-2027, Announcement 2025, "Processing and/or Marketing of Agricultural Products"), the operator aspires to improve and expand its activities in a similar sector in which it has been involved for many years and which it knows very well.
The state support of this specific sector, which is certainly not at all accidental, indicates and expresses the interest and importance that the government and the official state attach to industrial units of this type.
(Source: InBusinessNews)
