Community leader says Ayios Tychonas path safe, engineers voice concern

The Ayios Tychonas pedestrian coastal path is safe, community leader Pambos Ioannou said on Wednesday, following concerns that support pillars of the path have bent as a result of corrosion.

The issue was raised by the association of civil engineers (Cyace) that expressed concerns over “the dangerous state” of the coastal pedestrian street in the area of Ayios Tychonas in Limassol. The group released photos it collected from social media posted by people pointing out the problem. The photos show that some of the metal support pillars of the path are bent, some are not even touching the ground anymore or are sitting on surfaces that seem unstable while many metal rods are rusty.

“Access to the dangerous sections of the path should be prohibited immediately until they are repaired,” Cyace said in a written statement.

But Ayios Tychonas community leader Pambos Ioannou told the Cyprus News Agency there was no reason for concern.

According to Ioannou, the problem of erosion occurred at the end of 2020 after intense weather conditions and that corrective work was done on the wooden pier, but not on the pillars. Welding and repairing the damage to the pillars, however, cannot be done now due to the rough seas, he said. “But we are ready, even tomorrow if the weather conditions allow, to do it.”

He said the wooden pier is safe for pedestrians and there are no reasons for concern.

Ioannou said that the state had helped financially in repairing damage caused by rough seas last year in a large part of the coastal area and that in this case as well, they would seek financial support from the government.

Cyace had suggested in a letter to Ioannou and the Limassol district officer to promptly inspect the problematic parts to determine the exact extent of the corrosion and to decide the best way for its maintenance.

They also pointed out that the significant problems that arise “may be due to the coexistence and negative interaction of environmental and anthropogenic factors and in particular the design and construction of pedestrian paths in the coastal zone.”