Filenews 23 October 2022
By Panikos Charalambous*
Last week, and specifically on Monday, October 10, 2022, the Minister of Transport, Communications and Works, Giannis Karousos, surprised us once again. In all seriousness, he informed us that the Government, and more specifically his ministry, have studied the development of railways and trams in Cyprus, at a cost of about €2 billion. (on paper). In fact, with the same seriousness, the Minister submitted our plans before the European Commissioner for Transport Adina Valean, who was in Cyprus for the conference "Maritime Cyprus 2022".
Therefore, on the sidelines of a conference that had nothing to do with land transport, the minister responsible had the bright idea of putting to the commissioner responsible an idea of €2 billion, which is not the result of a national master plan for transport, and we expect Brussels to take us seriously! And we have even believed that, because the Commissioner did not tell us in her face that we put the carriage in front of the horses, that Europe approves of our gunpowder.
You may, my dear readers, think that I am exaggerating when I call the idea a gunpowder, but I want to assure you that this is not an arbitrary conclusion. The numbers themselves say it and he told us recently in a more sensible way a Transportation Engineer, Professor of the University of Cyprus, when he was invited by CyBC to comment on the announcements of Mr. Karousos. In his statements, he noted that neither the train nor the tram are viable solutions and investments and referred comparatively to the data concerning the Athens and Thessaloniki metros. And he told us that neither the numbers of the population of Cyprus, nor the numbers of passengers, per station, are at a level that would make such a large investment viable.
I am simply pointing out that the Thessaloniki metro, the construction of which is under way, will cover a zone with a total population of about 1 million people. residents and will serve around 313,000 passengers daily.
The Ministry's response
The announcements for railways and trams were also commented negatively by the staff of the candidate for President of the Republic Andreas Mavrogiannis, a comment that provoked a strong reaction from the ministry, that is, Mr. Karousos. The Ministry, therefore, that is, the minister, expressed "surprise" at the announcement of Mr. Mavrogiannis "in relation to the initiative" to raise "before the EU Commissioner for Transport the issue of funding for the creation of a railway and tramway".
"We really wonder whether discussing with the relevant Commissioner the possibility of funding from European funds for the creation of a railway and tramway in Cyprus is a mockery of the intelligence of citizens," the ministry said in its statement.
The surprise for the surprise...
But I am also surprised that there in the ministry they are surprised at the reactions to their idea. And, unfortunately, many times and many such ideas we have, as taxpayers, expensive and continue to pay dearly, because they went through the implementation stage without adequate studies, such as, for example, the introduction of the public transport system by bus, which cost and continues to cost the taxpayer tens of millions of euros. euro, without the corresponding return.
The Ministry itself, namely the Minister, admits that the cost of developing a railway and tramway in Cyprus is prohibitive, since, as stated in the relevant announcement, for the railway line "the cost is estimated at around €1.6 billion. and for the creation of a tramway in Nicosia of €350 million." It is argued, however, that "possible EU funding will make both projects viable and feasible".
Allow me to disagree. They can be made achievable, but they are not sustainable. Personally, I would liken them to the Orphanides shopping center in Nicosia and another large building in the city center, which were implemented by borrowing, that is, with foreign money, and while at first it seemed that they were flourishing, in the end they were abandoned, as their operating costs were excessively high and in the end prohibitive.
This is how the proposal for the tram and the train in Cyprus is. And no matter how much the minister responsible and his ministry try to convince us that "there has been a lot of technocratic work behind their proposal", I am sorry but they cannot. And the reasons concern them.
The carriage in front of the horse
A few months ago and specifically on Tuesday, May 3, 2022, at the Department of Public Works, a contract was signed for the provision of services for the development of the National Strategic Plan for Land Transport of Cyprus. In fact, according to the announcement of the Ministry of Transport itself, "the objective of the Convention is the development of an integrated National Strategy for Land Transport (Cyprus 2040) and the corresponding Action Plan to support future development in the transport sector". It is added that "in particular, the project seeks to facilitate the identification, as well as the support of the necessary future policies and investments in the transport sector (medium and long term), while at the same time seeking to align the transport sector with the requirements of the National Energy and Climate Plan, thus contributing to balanced regional development, climate change mitigation and the appropriate development of its transport sector. country'.
It was also noted that "the project will cover both passenger and commercial interurban land transport, interurban public transport, as well as cross-sectoral issues affecting land transport (e.g. sea and air transport)". For the elaboration of the plan, the state will spend €176.780,00 and this will be completed in 16 months. That is, the Plan will be ready in August 2023.
Cyprus and Greece
In contrast to Cyprus, a National Transport Plan has been introduced in Greece since 2019 and is the basis of new investments and actions in transport. According to this, "the main objective is for the plan to be the basis for the sustainable development of transport infrastructure and services in Greece in the medium (2027) and long-term horizon (2037), with the aim, inter alia, of enhancing the competitiveness and sustainability of the country's transport sector and in addition of identifying solutions that will cover organizational and institutional interventions, complementary to the planned investment in transport infrastructure'.
Pre-election gunpowder made in Cyprus
The first question that arises is the following: How did the Ministry of Transport and the competent minister come to the conclusion, especially after "significant technocratic work", that the country needs a railway line and trams, ten months before the planning of the National Strategy for Land Transport (Cyprus 2040) is completed?
Secondly, by what logic is a €2 billion project proposed to the EU for co-financing, without being one of the main cores of the National Strategy for Land Transport (Cyprus 2040)?
I will tell you the answer: Because we are in the run-up to the elections and the aim is to create impressions. And in pre-election periods, over time, we have heard a lot of gunpowder, such as that notorious investment fund of billions of euro that would save Cyprus from the financial crisis or the infamous commitment that any solution that would provide for a deposit haircut would not be accepted!
*Journalist
