Renovations begin at Kyrenia promenade

Renovation works have started on Kyrenia’s sea promenade, the town’s mayor Murat Senkul announced on Thursday evening.

In a post on social media, Senkul said the area has been “waiting for years to be rebuilt,” and that “when the works we started are completed, our country will gain a very special public space.”

He added, “we will not allow the ugliness in our country’s politics to bring us into despair.”

“The new Kyrenia, Kyrenia once more, is the pearl of the Mediterranean sea,” he said.

The new works begin as renovations to the town’s old harbour near their end, though there are creases which are yet to be ironed out in that particular project.

Issues such as where restaurants located in the harbour can place their tables and chairs have come to the fore in recent weeks, while ‘deputy parliament speaker’ Fazilet Ozdenefe expressed her displeasure at the state of the harbour last week.

She said, “weeks before we say hello to spring, the project is still not fully completed and continues to cause problems for local tradesmen, boat owners, tourists and residents of Kyrenia.

“The promised arrangements have not been made yet – neither sunshades nor parasols have been placed in front of the restaurants. In fact, there is still confusion about what the final version of the project will look like,” she said.

She added that some restaurants have placed tables and chairs on the harbour, but that “uncertainty and disorder are continuing.”

Regarding the wooden pier at which boats are moored, she said “rotten old decks have not been replaced, although [‘tourism minister’ Fikri] Ataoglu promised from the parliamentary podium that they would be, and they pose a serious safety risk.”

To this end, she said rotten wood had collapsed while a young man was walking on it, but that fortunately, “he survived the incident without any injury.”

She also criticised the execution of the plan to place glass over old rail tracks underneath the harbour uncovered during the renovations for people to see, as condensation collecting in the glass meant that nothing can be seen through it.

“Spring cannot happen without Kyrenia and its harbour. The necessary work must be completed urgently,” she said.