Transport Minister Evi Tsolaki opposes any changes to Nicosia’s Makarios Avenue that could mean returning EU funds, an official from her ministry told the House Transport Committee, as Nicosia Municipality prepares to put forward proposals to open the avenue to cars.
Evi Anagiotou, head of the ministry’s Sustainable Mobility Branch, gave the minister’s position orally, citing her contact with Tsolaki. Committee chairman Sotiris Ioannou asked whether the ministry agreed with opening the avenue. Anagiotou said it was waiting for the municipality to send the relevant studies.
EU funding
The European Commission has warned that any changes breaching the project’s sustainable mobility conditions could lead to the recovery of part of the EU funding used to redevelop the city’s commercial triangle. The warning followed debate and decisions by Nicosia’s municipal council on opening the avenue to private cars. The redevelopment cost 24.7 million euros in total, with the EU contributing 21 million euros and the remaining three million euros coming from national and local funds.
Alexios Konstantinides, representing the Finance Ministry and the European Commission Representation in Cyprus, said repaying the EU would be examined if changes were judged to affect the nature of the project and the way it was co-financed. “We will negotiate with the European Commission’s auditors, who are tough and inflexible,” he said. More studies from the municipality and the government would make those negotiations easier, he added.
Municipality’s plans
The municipal council originally decided to open the avenue to all vehicles in both directions from Monday to Friday, from 7am to 9pm, with only authorised vehicles allowed from 9pm to 7am and throughout the weekend.
The municipality’s package of proposals, aimed at reviving the area, includes opening the avenue with a small change to that decision. Mayor Charalambos Prountzos told the committee the municipality had carried out an internal study assessing the funding indicators, and said he would give further details once the proposals go before the municipal council at its upcoming meetings. He said the municipality was trying to be part of the solution and called for a calm debate rather than division and strong views.
Shopkeepers and small business owners in the area backed opening the avenue immediately, as originally decided, saying they go home poorer every day. “Our businesses are suffering. They are closing one after another,” they said.
Anagiotou said the avenue’s current design had been planned over many years and was based on strategic studies and transport policy. “Every year, 8 per cent more cars come into the city,” she said. She also said trade in the area was linked not to traffic but to city malls, the growth of online shopping and demographic change.
