Speaking to the press, Nicolaides says works will be partly funded by the EU as part of a programme promoting sustainable urban mobility.

These works will be concentrated west of the town centre, between Franklin Roosevelt Avenue and Makarios III Avenue, as well as the area between the Garylli River and Vassilios Pavlou Street and Omonia Avenue.

The areas include the parishes of Ayios Antoniou, Jami Jedid, Arnaout, and Ayios Ioannis, as well as part of Tsiflikoudia, and part of Omonia.

Planned projects include restoring the public buildings on Mishaouli and Kavazoglou Street for their better use for cultural, social and educational purposes.

An innovation and entrepreneurship centre will also be created within the municipality’s buildings on Franklin Roosevelt Avenue, he said.

A green walkway will be created to showcase sites of religious, historic or architectural value in the area west of the town centre while a building once used as a Turkish Cypriot cinema will be turned into a multiuse centre for cultural activities.

Several squares - Syntagmatos, Filellinon, Annagenisis and Nicos Roussou – will also be upgraded and plans for a new square, to be called Erini (Peace), drawn up.

According to Nicolaides, the facades of shops and homes in the area west of the town centre will be improved and Mishaouli and Kavazoglou Street widened.

The plans also include extending the existing Garylli-Organiki linear park to the seafront along Pallados, Dimokratias and Alexandria streets.

New access to the seafront will also be created, as will a centre for the elderly and a day care centre for the homeless.

Nicolaides, meanwhile, has said these works will be carried out alongside existing efforts to improve the day-to-day life of Limassol residents.

These, he said, include the widening of pavements, tree-planting, the creation of parking lots, and cycling paths among other projects.

The mayor says he favours a human-centred approach that will also see the better management of the town’s parks and green areas.

Nicolaides also aims to get older projects back on track, he said, including €28.5 million anti-flooding works and the creation of a road safety park in Zakaki, a sports centre for Ayios Ioannis and Apostolos Andreas, as well as one for Ayia Phyla.

Longer-term plans include widening main roads including Miltonos, Grivas Digenis and Gladstonos.

Source: InCyprus