Filenews 3 April 2024 - by Nicoletta Kouroushi
After many years of procedures and numerous reactions, the way is now wide open for the construction of the Aura project, 181.5 meters high and 44 floors on the coastal front of Limassol, on the site where the former Debenhams Olympia department store was located.
Until the green light was given for the construction of this tower, which if built would be the tallest building in Cyprus so far, there were long consultations and numerous discussions and reactions among municipal groups in Limassol, with municipal councillors having expressed serious disagreements about the height of the tower. But also for the piece of land, which, they argue, is small for such a large development in the area.
The latest episode in the long-running series took place with the recent procedural decision of the Limassol Municipal Council, which essentially ratified a decision of the Council of Ministers, which allows the unification of underground public road spaces for the benefit of development.
A peculiarity in this case is the fact that the project, which is proposed to be done, is separated from a public road (Andrea Zaimi Street), with the owners having a piece of land after the public road, which they asked to be incorporated into the development for purposes of a higher building coefficient, a request that was satisfied after a decision of the Council of Ministers, according to which "the right to use the underground passage" is granted to the applicants, essentially unifying the underground spaces of the development.
The Limassol Municipal Council gave the green light to this provision by a majority, while the municipal groups of AKEL and EDEK once again expressed their disagreement.
It is noted that this project received a positive opinion from the majority of the Limassol Municipal Council since December 2019, where in the third consecutive vote and after a marathon session, the Limassol Municipal Council gave the green light to the Aura tower. The balance tipped in favor of development with 14 positive votes, despite the negative vote of Mayor Nikos Nikolaidis and 11 municipal councilors, while it secured planning permission and approval from the Environmental Authority.
According to 2019 reports, eight of the ten municipal councillors of DISY, three of the four municipal councillors of DIKO, and the councillors of Solidarity, the Citizens' Alliance and ELAM were in favour of approval, while the municipal councillor of DISY, Michalis Vassiliou, the councillor of DIKO, Christis Demetriou, the six municipal councillors of AKEL, were against it. the two of EDEK and the advisor of the Ecologists.
It should be noted that for this development, the Limassol Municipality has secured compensatory measures, such as the landscaping of a public square and park on the ground floor, the creation of a cultural centre and around 300 underground parking spaces.
What do dissenters say?
Asked why he expressed disagreement, AKEL municipal councillor Michalis Socratous explained that he disagrees with the construction of this development in an area that is not spatially delimited and which will generate cumulative costs with the other towers that have been erected, stressing that there are currently no economic conditions to justify such derogations, by building a development of this magnitude on the site.
For his part, DISY municipal councillor Michalis Vassiliou, who also disagreed with this development from the beginning, pointed out that he considers that such an excessive height and size development is not appropriate at this point, since this piece of land, as he pointed out, is narrow and has a small frontage, creating environmental, traffic and other impacts for Limassol. In fact, he pointed out that "some people think that Cyprus belongs to them".
How do the mayor of Limassol and the head of the municipal team DISY Limassol comment?
Asked to comment on the licensing of this development, Nikos Nicolaides limited himself to mentioning that at the crucial meeting of 2019 he was among the people who voted against this project, which, however, received the approval of the majority of the members of the city council. He also commented that the issue is wrongly being raised now, since the City Council gave the green light in 2019, while the recent last vote of the council was merely of a procedural nature.
On his part, the head of the municipal team of DISY Limassol, Costas Yiallouros, asked to comment on the reasons that led DISY to vote by a majority in favour of this development, argued that in 2018, when the project was proposed, at a time when the Cypriot economy and the banking system were facing a problem of capital adequacy, DISY behaved responsibly.
He also noted that the green light was given to the project after two votes, after the necessary studies were carried out by the various competent Departments (e.g. Town Planning, Fire Brigade, Department of Environment) and after ensuring that the various necessary conditions were met. Yiallouros also referred to the large compensatory benefits granted to the city, such as the creation of an urban park and parking spaces.
It is worth noting that this project has been designed by the internationally renowned architectural firm Foster + Partners, flanked by a number of foreign and Cypriot designers, with the aim, as mentioned by the designers of the project, to create a modern, ecological tower, harmoniously integrated at its bottom with the urban fabric of the city.
The designers of the project have argued in previous publications that the basic design parameter, apart from the necessary urban planning and environmental factors, is not to affect the amenities of the residents of the area and their significant improvement and upgrade.
In this context, as noted by the designers of the project, the proposed apartment building, which will be the commercial aspect of the development, is elevated 24 meters from the ground of the Urban Park and is empty, so as to ensure on the one hand the spatial and visual connection of the park with the coastal front and on the other hand the improvement of the amenities of residents and the area in terms of ventilation, lighting and sea viewing.
