Consultants will help develop a sustainable urban mobility plan (SUMP) for the greater urban area of Famagusta district as Cyprus steps up efforts to transition to greener transport and increased accessibility, the transport ministry said on Thursday.

The €91,630 consultancy services contract was signed in Ayia Napa by Eleftherios Eletheriou of the public works department and Anna Karamontani on behalf of the joint venture Mobilityinchain Srl + ALA Planning Partnership Consultancy LLC.

To be completed in 12 months, the contract is 85 per cent financed by the EU’s competitiveness and sustainable development programme, with the rest covered by national resources.

The aim is the development of a plan for the Famagusta area that will take into consideration all projects that have been completed or are being planned. Emphasis will also go to rejuvenating urban centres with measures for sustainable mobility.

“Sustainable mobility is linked with the wider targets to which Cyprus has committed to at EU level for sustainable towns, to address climate change, reduce carbon emissions and more effective energy use,” the ministry said in an announcement.

It entails a change in the daily lives and lifestyle of the public and is dependent on integrated urban and transport planning, greater use of public transport and the promotion of more energy-saving methods of transportation with the support of technology, it added.

The basic objective is to create a modern, attractive and green urban transport system that ensures accessibility for all, improves the urban environment, offers safety on the transportation system, reduces energy consumption and carbon emissions, minimises noise and improves air quality, it added.

The study will mark an important step to the implementation of projects and actions that will improve the daily lives of residents in the free Famagusta area and will help promote tourism, Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos said after the signing.

“Tourists choose to go to green cities, towns and areas with public transport and this is something that will help in its own way in developing tourism,” he added.