Transport ministry has budget of over €400m next year

The transport ministry is set to have a budget of over €400 million for 2023, marking a more than 80 per cent increase since 2015, Minister Yiannis Karousos said on Monday, presenting his ministry’s budget to parliament.

In his address, Karousos said that for the upcoming year the ministry’s budget would be €469.45 million, which is estimated to be an 82 per cent increase in the ministry’s overall budget since 2015.

The figure he presented, also included €35 million set to come from co-financed projects.

“The government of Nicos Anastasiades can be proud for implementing the greatest development policy that our country has ever had and that important and long-awaited projects, and investments, which were announced by the president and which were a demand of local communities in all districts for decades, are to be implemented,” he said.

He said that development projects that have been completed or are under execution and have been announced total €1.78 billion.

The project budget in the EU Recovery and Resilience Plan for 2022-26 is €143.8 million, of which €89 million concern the transport ministry and €54.8 million concern other ministries.

Referring to the main projects under execution, he mentioned, among others, the Astromeritis-Evrychou highway, the Polis-Paphos highway, the Nicosia ring road, the traffic light system and the Larnaca-Dhekelia and Deryneia-Sotiras roads.

Among the main projects expected to be announced in 2023, the new migrant centre in Limnes, the buildings that will house three ministries of interior, energy, and transport, the state chemistry service, the new building of the attorney-general’s office and the project to solve the landslip in Pissouri and the second phase of the ring road.

He also said that the project for the new Cyprus museum at a cost of €144 million will be announced and signed before the end of the year, while the project for the Palaichori-Nicosia highway will be signed at the end of January.

Still within the framework of the Resilience and Recovery Plan, intelligent transport systems will be implemented, electric vehicle recharging infrastructure will be created and the related market will be regulated with 10 double rapid recharging points and 1000 recharging points by 2026.

Sustainable mobility projects will also be carried out while electrification is promoted in public sector with the purchase of electric vehicles.