By Giannis Pazouros
After years of delays, changes of plans and new plans, it is time -at last- all the involved bodies to take a stand saying what they want to happen on Agia Fylaxeos Avenue in Limassol. The total project has been divided for years into three phases with the first having already been completed, while after a decision of the Public Works and Urban Planning it was decided for financial and technical reasons to proceed first with the third phase of the project and then to complete the second. .
They must be placed
On Thursday afternoon, a meeting will be held in which all those involved are invited to attend, ie, the Municipality of Limassol, the Public Works, the Town Planning, the school ephorate, as well as the ETEK. The meeting will take place in Panos Solomonidis and has as main purpose the presentation from the point of view of Public Works and Urban Planning of all the latest developments and data for the design of the project. That is, the planners will explain to those involved what is most appropriate to do in the area, as well as if there are alternatives and how much they affect traffic. Essentially, the updated project design will be presented.
Next, stakeholders will have to take a stand and express their views on the specific proposals in the hope of having a common component to carry out the necessary work, without getting involved in labyrinthine bureaucratic and court proceedings. The meeting was decided after a meeting that took place about a month ago, between the municipality, Public Works and Urban Planning with the Minister of Transport, Communications and Works, Giannis Karousos, with the aim of defining a procedure for to unblock the project.
Thorn the circular node
A key thorn in the side of the process seems to be that the planning promoted by Public Works and Urban Planning – with which the Municipality of Limassol agrees – provides for the creation of a roundabout at the intersection of Agia Fylaxeos and Makariou Avenue. In order for such a thing to be possible, however, it is necessary to use space from the surrounding area of Lanitio, on the side that is the Lanitio Stadium. Such a case finds the opposite, as it seems, the school ephorate of Limassol, which in fact invokes a relevant legal opinion from a legal advisor regarding the trust left by the donors of the Lanite schools. The Municipality of Limassol is said to have the opposite legal opinion. It is noted that alternative proposals have already been planned in the ephorate, for the use of as little space as possible from Lanitia. It is said that ETEK Limassol also disagrees with the decision to create a roundabout.
What will happen to SVAK?
The plans of Public Works and Urban Planning so far consider that it is more appropriate at this point to become a roundabout. The Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SVAK) of the city of Limassol, includes one-way streets that concern this point. It is expected, however, that whether the SVAK is affected or not, and whether changes can be made, will play an important role in the final decision.
