LOCAL media has claimed that the planned sale of a vast swathe of recreation land to Altinkum is to be split into eight plots before going to auction.

Didim Council and local residents have voiced concerns at the potential development of parcel 1020 – the parcel number of the land in question – that is located at the back of the Ruby Hill complex, just off the bottom of Ataturk Boulevard.

The land, which extends and borders part of Hunters Valley and is about 120,000 sqm, is currently owned by the government’s Treasury department.

But the Treasury recently handed the rights of the land over to a government department called the Privatization Agency. This agency has the authority to sell land on to interested and private owners.

This is generally interpreted as a final stop before land is sold off to private operators – potentially developers.

In recent days, local media claimed that the plot has been sub-divided into eight plots, fuelling fears they will be sold off shortly.

Previously Didim Mayor Deniz Atabay said there was no real knowing of who the land could or would be sold on to.

But he said that its proximity to the Altinkum neighborhood and the fact it was seen as a recreation land was important to the town.

He said: “The potential for 118,000 m2 of land to become open to development in this place makes us uneasy. We cannot interfere with the Privatization Agency regarding the development plans of this place. But we want parcel 1020 to remain a recreation area, a place where you can breathe in Didim.”