Cyprus Mail
CyprusFeatured

Private cars only to be allowed on Makarios Ave for one year

mak

Private vehicles on the new look Makarios Avenue will only be allowed for about a year, starting from December 7, Nicosia mayor Constantinos Yiorkadjis said on Thursday.

Speaking on CyBC radio, Yiorkadjis said the matter was discussed during a municipal council meeting on Wednesday night, where 17 members voted in favour of allowing private cars on Makarios Avenue, while ten were opposed.

On Wednesday, the audit service said that allowing cars on the capital’s popular and busy road would violate the plans for which the government received funding, resulting in the money having to be returned.

Originally, the plans for Makarios Avenue only allowed buses, taxis and private cars belonging to nearby residents on the one-way two-lane street.

However, on Tuesday, the Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (Etek) indicated that the road may, despite initial plans, be made accessible to cars.

After the comments made by Etek, the audit service responded saying that any change of plans could lead to the withdrawal of the €13m allocated for the redevelopment project.

It was therefore decided to discuss the matter in a municipal council, which was presided by the mayor of Nicosia.

“Private cars will be allowed to transit on Makarios Avenue for about a year until the redevelopment works of the ‘commercial triangle’ roads of Stasikratous, Makarios and Evagorou are completed,” Yiorkadjis told CyBC.

He added that allowing private cars on the road does not constitute a change to the original plan, as suggested by the audit service, since it concerns regulations that will only apply once the works on the commercial triangle are completed.

“At the moment, redevelopment works have been taken to completion only on Makarios and Stasikratous,” he said.

“The remaining works on Evagorou will last for about a year, during which private cars will be allowed to transit on Makarios Avenue.

“The redevelopment of the entire area was designed to promote sustainable mobility on one of the capital’s busiest roads. I can assure that, even after allowing private cars on Makarios Avenue, our goals of making the area greener will be met,” Yiorkadjis concluded.

Follow the Cyprus Mail on Google News

Related Posts

Action plan to help integrate migrants

Nikolaos Prakas

10-year sentence for raping elderly woman

Tom Cleaver

Annual charity cancer march to kick off in Limassol

Rony J. El Daccache

Nicosia museum to close for the day

Rony J. El Daccache

Cyprus sees surge in deposits and loans in February

Kyriacos Nicolaou

Two fires destroyed in Paphos fire

Nikolaos Prakas