Nicosia’s municipal swimming pool will not be open to the public until next year, municipality spokeswoman Petrina Kakoulli said on Tuesday.

It has now been closed to the public for five years, except for a short period in the summer of 2021.

Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, she conceded that the first phase of renovation works at the swimming pool have now been completed, and what will be the public pool is now back in service.

However, with the second competition pool and some of the outbuildings still undergoing renovations, the public pool has been reserved entirely for the use of aquatic athletes for the duration of the summer.

This deal was cemented on Monday by the signing of an agreement by outgoing Nicosia mayor Constantinos Yiorkadjis and Cyprus Sports Organisation chairman Yiannis Ioannou.

However, while the contract is good news for aquatic athletes, it means a fifth consecutive year in which Nicosia residents will go without a municipal swimming pool for a full summer season.

The pool was first opened in 1989, and then closed during the Covid-19 pandemic when renovations worth €6.5 million began.

The municipality had said in 2023 that the renovations will mark a “historic development for the city”.

“The total reconstruction of the swimming pool’s facilities was absolutely imperative as the infrastructure was built in the 1980s and has not been seriously upgraded since then,” they said.

Nicosia residents will not be left completely without a swimming pool for the summer, though those which are open do have steep prices.

The Cleopatra hotel downtown charges members of the public €14 per person per day for use of their swimming pool, while the Hilton hotel in Engomi charges €30 per person per day.