Filenews 25 January 2021 - by Dora Christodoulou
It has always been the most important and central green lung of the city of Paphos. Until at least a few years ago, when the Forest Park, on the northern exit of the city to Mesogi, actually smelled of green space. Unfortunate interventions and abandonment, however, turned Paphos' lung into an abandoned park that no one visited and no one dealt with.
Today, however, it seems that the time has come to become the "Dasoudi" again, as everyone knows it and mention it in Paphos, in an area of environmental and urban value for the Municipality of Paphos. The Municipal Authority proceeds to carry out a project that enriches the green of the city and enhances the quality of life of its residents.
As part of the project, maintenance, regeneration and configuration of the site will take place, including, among other things, floor plans for plantings, fences, urban equipment, a playground and electric lighting.
Speaking to "F", the municipal councillor, Gauge Loizidis, stressed that the municipal authority considered that the situation in the green space is unsatisfactory, while there are serious problems both with the infrastructure and with the operation of the green space in times of intense weather events.
"In order to upgrade the site and improve the infrastructure in this central park of our city", he stressed, "the Municipality of Paphos had requested and prepared a study by a private scholar".
The importance of the project is also highlighted by the municipal councillor of Paphos, Marinos Stylianou. Dasushi Park, he points out, was a registered point for many generations of Pafites and the largest park in the municipal area of Paphos.
"Sometimes it was full of life, while in recent years it gives the image of a neglected park. A green lung left in time forgotten. It is truly sad and causes the least discomfort and anger when faced with images of shame, images that emit false messages, images that confirm abandonment, withering or even neglect. The Municipality of Paphos has an obligation towards the citizens, it has an obligation to all the parks that are under its supervision and management as they are maintained, planted, embellished and improved so that they are widely used by our fellow citizens wherever they are. Paphos is not only the historic, now renewed centre with modern squares and infrastructure projects, it is not only the tourist area, but the whole municipal area of Paphos with its neighbourhoods and side streets".
Marinos Stylianou expressed the belief that "Dasoudi" closed an important chapter in his life and will open a new one with the architectural competition, which will lead to its improvement in order to meet the needs of society, with a modern playground, with sports and health areas, with available infrastructure spaces for hosting cultural and musical events with increased parking spaces, in the presence of the liquid and aquatic element and the creation of a Garden Theatre that can finally host major events; music concerts.
"Headache" the traffic
In recent years, the municipal factors admit, it is not only the abandonment and lack of improvements that bothers around the historic green space of Paphos. "Headache" causes in competent government departments, Municipality of Paphos, but also residents and the situation of traffic chaos that prevails daily and at all hours of the day in the area despite the park, as a result of the intense commercial activity in the area and the operation of three bank branches within a radius of only a few meters.
The problem in this central area of Paphos is becoming serious to an alarming degree, residents point out and now admit responsible state and municipal bodies, since the over-concentration of large commercial developments around the park have made road accidents, traffic congestion until the early hours of the morning a daily occurrence.
Residents argue that the arrangements implemented, in particular the placing of a dividing islet to prohibit two-way traffic at the exit of businesses, do not solve, but rather exacerbate the problem, since many drivers do not comply with the result that they create traffic jams and risks of accidents.
Oasis of coolness and play
And yet the Forest of Paphos has not been abandoned by everyone, even in the current regime of its under-operation. The overwhelming majority of the city's population may have taken the park out of their daily lives, but often images from the old days, when the city's main green lung was the residents' favorite destination for a walk and a few hours of rest, lives there again today.
With the operation of the refreshment and the improvement of the specific part of the area and its infrastructure, at the initiative of the tenants of the refreshment, they often turn it into an oasis of coolness and play at least for the small residents of the city.
Celebrations, games and events take place there on a frequent basis focusing on children, giving the opportunity to people of all ages to take their walk in the park, enjoy their coffee in the refreshment room, watch the children have fun in the playground that now provides complete safety for the young visitors of the area and remember old good times of the Municipal Park "Dasoudi".
They hope to return to Paphos now, as a result of the regeneration and landscaping that the Municipality of the city is now promoting.
Oasis of coolness and play
And yet the Forest of Paphos has not been abandoned by everyone, even in the current regime of its under-operation. The overwhelming majority of the city's population may have taken the park out of their daily lives, but often images from the old days, when the city's main green lung was the residents' favourite destination for a walk and a few hours of rest, lives there again today.
With the operation of the refreshment and the improvement of the specific part of the area and its infrastructure, at the initiative of the tenants of the refreshment, they often turn it into an oasis of coolness and play at least for the small residents of the city.
Celebrations, games and events take place there on a frequent basis focusing on children, giving the opportunity to people of all ages to take their walk in the park, enjoy their coffee in the refreshment room, watch the children have fun in the playground that now provides complete safety for the young visitors of the area and remember old good times of the Municipal Park "Dasoudi".
They hope to return to Paphos now, as a result of the regeneration and landscaping that the municipality of the city is now promoting.
