Wednesday, May 13, 2020

POLIS MAYOR WARNS OF 'DYNAMIC MEASURES' IF ROAD TO PAPHOS SCRAPPED

Cyprus Mail 13 May 2020 -by Elias Hazou


The mayor of Polis Chrysochous on Tuesday warned of ‘dynamic measures’ should the government stop the construction of the highway linking his community to Paphos.
Meantime at the offices of the Paphos chamber of commerce, local politicians and business actors were set to meet later in the day to discuss the government’s decision to delay building of the highway – a project that has been in start-stop mode for several years.
Speaking to Alpha TV, Polis mayor Yiotis Papachristofis said the government’s intentions are not entirely clear.

As he understood it, construction of the road would be delayed by a few months. However, should it transpire the government intends to put the project in the deep freeze, the local community would “react forcefully.”
Papachristofis added: “We shall not accept such a thing.”
He did not elaborate on what measures they had in mind.
Last week the cabinet decided to temporarily suspend certain public works projects, citing the need for spending cutbacks amid the coronavirus situation, because of which the state has had to divert significant financial resources to supporting struggling businesses and employees.
The finance minister later stated that budget allocations for this year would be scrapped for the Paphos-Polis road as well as the new parliament building.
At the same time, the cabinet greenlit for immediate implementation projects co-funded by the EU, such as the first phase of a peripheral highway linking the A1 motorway (Limassol to Nicosia) to Tseri Avenue, costing around €60m.
Stakeholders in the Paphos area see this as a double standard, suspecting the government of using the coronavirus situation as a convenient excuse to indefinitely postpone the Paphos-Polis highway project, the first phase of which was costed at about €70m.
The project would at any rate have been stuck in limbo at least until the autumn, due to an objection having been filed by one of the bidders against the decision awarding the contract to a Greek company by the name of Intrakat.
The appeal was filed with the Tenders Review Authority by the consortium of Avax AE and Cybarco Contracting Ltd.