Larnaca Mayor Andreas Vyras intends to bring three requests the state has "forgotten" back before the Minister of Transport, Communications and Works, Evi Tsolaki. The requests concern projects that have been pending for many years, and he will raise them at their scheduled meeting on 13 October. The town also wants to know when and how the abandoned site of Larnaca's old airport will be used to benefit the local economy.
Port and marina top the agenda
The meeting was originally set for 25 September but was postponed. Its main topic will be the outstanding issues concerning the development of the town's port and marina. In particular, it will focus on the delays against the timetables set out in the Development Roadmap, which the Cyprus Ports Authority (CPA) presented last summer.
There is concern in Larnaca about whether the Roadmap's timetables will be met. The local authority will therefore ask for a clear political commitment that the entire project will be completed on time.
The minister will also be asked to give the CPA clear instructions to begin the first works provided for in the Roadmap, regardless of the legal obstacles that appear to be arising in relation to the procedures.
Three requests out of mothballs
At the same time, the memorandum the Larnaca Municipality will submit to the minister includes three issues that are, in essence, being brought back after a long time.
One of them concerns Alexandros Panagoulis Avenue, a road project that has been unfinished for 20 years.
Construction of the avenue began with the aim of linking Spyros Kyprianou Avenue (formerly Stratigou Timagia) in Larnaca with the Rizoelia-Ayia Napa motorway, and of easing traffic on the Larnaca-Dhekelia coastal road.
However, only half of the road was built. The first phase was completed in 2006, up to the church of Ayios Savvas in Livadia. The construction drawings for the second phase have still not been started.
Larnaca will ask for the tender procedures for the construction drawings of the second phase to be moved forward. This phase will cover the section from Livadia to the Rizoelia motorway.
