Polis Chrysochous promises revamped town in 2024

With €100 million spent on projects across Polis Chrysochous this year, the town’s mayor, Yiotis Papachristofis, said residents would be reaping a host of benefits after what he described as a productive year.

The two major projects the municipality undertook in 2023 were the sewage system and expanding the Latsi harbour, he explained.

“This is an important milestone not only for the municipality but also for the wider region,” Papachristofis underlined.

At the same time, several projects are underway, including expanding the space in front of the municipality and the old police station. The specific plan amounts to €1.8 million and is co-funded by the agricultural development plan 2014-2020, as well as state support. It is expected to be complete by September 2024.

Additionally, Papachristofis said the 3.2km pavement construction project north of the main Polis – Latsi road amounts to €1.8m, with €1.2m hailing from the transport ministry and additional funding expected in the coming year.

At the same time, he noted the construction works and Phase A of the contract with Tepak’s Eratosthenes Centre over the project at upgrading and landscaping the Latsi port’s warehouse into a multipurpose sea and culture centre have been completed. At a cost of €1.2m, phase B is set to go in motion next year, with a budget of €500,000.

Papachistofis also referred to the project aimed at highlighting the municipality’s ancient sites, amounting to €4m.

Describing it as a productive year, he said in 2024 more important works would continue, with projects in the centre as well as Prodromi, which amount to €2m. One third of the costs are to be undertaken by the municipality with the remaining amount by the state.

The municipal stadium is also expected to be revamped next year, at a cost of €500,000, and a request to the Cyprus football association for 75 per cent of the funding has been filed.

Additionally, the municipality is also seeking to utilise the Recovery and Resilience plan, seeking to have €800,000 in funding to construct a nursery.

In relation to projects, which are currently in the maturity stage, he said that they include the upgrading and landscaping of the Polos Chrysochous campsite, the Linear Park, the third phase of Latsio, the tourist promenade, the pedestrian walkway from the campsite to the lake, the creation of a new playing field, the creation of a recreation centre on a beach in the municipality and the construction of a new cemetery.

Other ambitions including upgrading the Polis Chrysochous camp site, the linear park, the tourist area and the creation of a new cemetery.

Papachristofi said local authority reform would be a major challenge but Polis Chrysochous “has the potential to become a local authority which is administratively and financially autonomous, with the potential to provide quality services to its citizens.”

The local authority would have enough benefits to keep locals in the area and also be an attractive tourism and investment destination, he concluded.