Green anger at Polemidhia stadium plan

By Athena Karsera

AN ATHLETIC centre in Polemidhia National Forest Park, Limassol will be ready by in 2001, Agriculture Minister Costas Themistocleous announced yesterday.

But the Ecological Environmentalist Party and other green groups strongly oppose the construction, despite the minister’s assurances that “an environmental study will be made so that the least possible damage can be done to the environment”.

Speaking on behalf of the Ecological Environmentalist Party, Harry Karayan said yesterday he was against the planned complex, which will stretch over 10,000 square metres, excluding the car-park, arguing the Polemidhia forest was the “only clean breathing space in Limassol”.

The Party also objects that the stadium will cause traffic problems in Limassol, because of its proximity to the city. They believe that the stadium should be built somewhere else, where less environmental damage would be done and less trouble be caused for the town.

But the president of the Cyprus Athletic Organisation (KOA), Dimos Georgiades, defended the plan.

He said it was KOA policy to provide a “palais des sport” in every town, and that Limassol was the only town left without one. He added that a lot of locations had been studied before the Polemidhia site was chosen, and stressed that “Koa respects the environment and will make every attempt for the project not to hurt the environment.”

The closed stadium will also house athletic federations and will provide a location for sports such as gymnastics, wrestling, and squash, besides catering for basketball, indoor football and handball. It is expected to help Cyprus’ bid to host the Mediterranean Games in 2005.

Work is set to begin at the end of 1999, after a competition is held to select the architect and after contractors have been chosen. The project is expected to cost five million pounds, which will be funded by Koa.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.